Literature Summaries

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Leo Tolstoy)

Husband of Praskovya Golovin, Ivan Ilyich injures himself while hanging curtains. As he lies bed-ridden, only his servant Gerasim helps him confront his mortality.

A Month in the Country (Ivan Turgenev)

On the Islaev country estate, Natalya Petrovna is married to landowner Arkadi Islaev and friends with Mikhail Rakitin. Tutor Aleksei Belyaev captures the hearts of both Natalya and her ward Vera, but is ultimately dismissed by a suspicious Arkadi.

The Comedy of Errors (William Shakespeare)

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The Merchant of Venice (William Shakespeare)

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The Merry Wives of Windsor (William Shakespeare)

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The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Charles Dickens)

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The Old Curiosity Shop (Charles Dickens)

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The Phoenix and the Turtle (William Shakespeare)

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The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens)

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The Rape of Lucrece (William Shakespeare)

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The Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare)

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The Tempest (William Shakespeare)

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The Two Noble Kinsmen (William Shakespeare)

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The Viscount de Bragelonne (Alexandre Dumas Sr.)

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The Winter's Tale (William Shakespeare)

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Timon of Athens (William Shakespeare)

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Titus Andronicus (William Shakespeare)

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Troilus and Cressida (William Shakespeare)

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Twelfth Night (William Shakespeare)

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Twenty Years After (Alexandre Dumas Sr.)

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Two Gentlemen of Verona (William Shakespeare)

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Venus and Adonis (William Shakespeare)

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War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

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The Lotos-Eaters (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land, "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon." In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Full-faced above the valley stood the moon; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem. A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke, Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go; And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke, Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below. They saw the gleaming river seaward flow From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops, Three silent pinnacles of aged snow, Stood sunset-flush'd: and, dew'd with showery drops, Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse. The charmed sunset linger'd low adown In the red West: thro' mountain clefts the dale Was seen far inland, and the yellow down Border'd with palm, and many a winding vale And meadow, set with slender galingale; A land where all things always seem'd the same! And round about the keel with faces pale, Dark faces pale against that rosy flame, The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came. Branches they bore of that enchanted stem, Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave To each, but whoso did receive of them, And taste, to him the gushing of the wave Far far away did seem to mourn and rave On alien shores; and if his fellow spake, His voice was thin, as voices from the grave; And deep-asleep he seem'd, yet all awake, And music in his ears his beating heart did make. They sat them down upon the yellow sand, Between the sun and moon upon the shore; And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar, Weary the wandering fields of barren foam. Then some one said, "We will return no more"; And all at once they sang, "Our island home Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam." CHORIC SONG I There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies. Here are cool mosses deep, And thro' the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep." II Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness, And utterly consumed with sharp distress, While all things else have rest from weariness? All things have rest: why should we toil alone, We only toil, who are the first of things, And make perpetual moan, Still from one sorrow to another thrown: Nor ever fold our wings, And cease from wanderings, Nor steep our brows in slumber's holy balm; Nor harken what the inner spirit sings, "There is no joy but calm!" Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things? III Lo! in the middle of the wood, The folded leaf is woo'd from out the bud With winds upon the branch, and there Grows green and broad, and takes no care, Sun-steep'd at noon, and in the moon Nightly dew-fed; and turning yellow Falls, and floats adown the air. Lo! sweeten'd with the summer light, The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, Drops in a silent autumn night. All its allotted length of days The flower ripens in its place, Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil, Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil. IV Hateful is the dark-blue sky, Vaulted o'er the dark-blue sea. Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be? Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast, And in a little while our lips are dumb. Let us alone. What is it that will last? All things are taken from us, and become Portions and parcels of the dreadful past. Let us alone. What pleasure can we have To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave? All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave In silence; ripen, fall and cease: Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease. V How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream, With half-shut eyes ever to seem Falling asleep in a half-dream! To dream and dream, like yonder amber light, Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height; To hear each other's whisper'd speech; Eating the Lotos day by day, To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, And tender curving lines of creamy spray; To lend our hearts and spirits wholly To the influence of mild-minded melancholy; To muse and brood and live again in memory, With those old faces of our infancy Heap'd over with a mound of grass, Two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass! VI Dear is the memory of our wedded lives, And dear the last embraces of our wives And their warm tears: but all hath suffer'd change: For surely now our household hearths are cold, Our sons inherit us: our looks are strange: And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy. Or else the island princes over-bold Have eat our substance, and the minstrel sings Before them of the ten years' war in Troy, And our great deeds, as half-forgotten things. Is there confusion in the little isle? Let what is broken so remain. The Gods are hard to reconcile: 'Tis hard to settle order once again. There is confusion worse than death, Trouble on trouble, pain on pain, Long labour unto aged breath, Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars And eyes grown dim with gazing on the pilot-stars. VII But, propt on beds of amaranth and moly, How sweet (while warm airs lull us, blowing lowly) With half-dropt eyelid still, Beneath a heaven dark and holy, To watch the long bright river drawing slowly His waters from the purple hill— To hear the dewy echoes calling From cave to cave thro' the thick-twined vine— To watch the emerald-colour'd water falling Thro' many a wov'n acanthus-wreath divine! Only to hear and see the far-off sparkling brine, Only to hear were sweet, stretch'd out beneath the pine. VIII The Lotos blooms below the barren peak: The Lotos blows by every winding creek: All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone: Thro' every hollow cave and alley lone Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown. We have had enough of action, and of motion we, Roll'd to starboard, roll'd to larboard, when the surge was seething free, Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea. Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl'd Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands, Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying hands. But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong, Like a tale of little meaning tho' the words are strong; Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil, Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil, Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil; Till they perish and they suffer—some, 'tis whisper'd—down in hell Suffer endless anguish, others in Elysian valleys dwell, Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel. Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore Than labour in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar; O, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more.

The Labyrinth of Solitude (Octavio Paz)

"The Pachuco and other extremes" "Mexican Mask" "The Day of the Dead" "The Sons of La Malinche" "The Conquest and Colonialism" "From Independence to the Revolution" "The Mexican Intelligence" "The Present Day" "The Dialectic of Solitude"

Good Country People (Flannery O'Connor)

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The Life You Save May Be Your Own (Flannery O'Connor)

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Caesar and Cleopatra (George Bernard Shaw)

Caesar discovers Cleopatra sleeping beneath a Sphinx. Ftatateeta kills Pothinus. Rubio tries to burn ships.

Richard II (William Shakespeare)

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Richard III (William Shakespeare)

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Mansfield Park (Jane Austen)

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Holy Sonnets (John Donne)

1. Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and souls deliverie. Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well, And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then; One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more, Death, thou shalt die. 2. Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp'd town to another due, Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy; Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Other Voices, Other Rooms (Truman Capote)

13-year-old Joel Harrison Knox stays at Skully's Landing with quadriplegic father Edward R. Sansom. He meets step-mother Amy, transvestite cousin Randolph, Harper-Lee-inspired tomboy Idabel, and black characters Jesus and Zoo.

Ah, Wilderness (Eugene O'Neill)

16-year-old coming-of-age Richard Miller is introduced to prostitute Belle, daughter of Chris Christopherson by Wint Selby. David McComber objects to Richard's relathionship with daughter Muriel.

Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life (George Eliot)

17-year-old Dorothea Brooke marries 45-year-old scholar Edward Casaubon, who believes Christianity is The Key to All Mythologies, against the wishes of sister Celia who wants her to marry Sir James Chettam. She falls in love with Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's younger cousin, and on Casaubon's death, he leaves a condition that her inheritance is voided if she married Ladislaw, who is working for the parliamentary campaign of Arthur Brooke. They marry regardless. Tertius Lydgate is a doctor, who treats Fred Vincy and marries his sister Rosemary. He heals Casaubon after a heart attack, and goes into debt satisfying Rosemary's wants, borrowing from Bulstrode and Camden Farebrother. Never finishing university, Fred Vincy believes himself to be the heir of Mr. Featherstone's fortune. He cannot pay loans back to Mary Garth and Caleb Garth, trains as a land agent, and ultimately marries Mary. Mary refuses to destroy one of Featherstone's two wills on his deathbed, and Fred doesn't inherit any money. Bulstrode, a wealthy financier, is blackmailed by John Raffles. He expediates Raffle's death, but is disgraced in Middlemarch and is forced to leave. His connection with Lydgate, means the doctor also must abandon the town.

The Pardoner's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

3 revelers want to slay Death, who killed their friend with plague; find treasure under tree; stab and poison each other over the gold

Desire under the Elms (Eugene O'Neill)

75-year-old Ephraim Cabot runs a New England farmhouse with 25-year-old son Eben and his half-brothers Simeon and Peter. Ephraim marries 35-year-old Abbie Putnam, and Simeon and Peter leave for the West. Abbie and Eben fall in love, with Abbie becoming pregnant as a result. Eben doesn't believe the son is his, and Abbie kills the child. Both Eben and Abbie are taken to prison.

Montage of a Dream Deferred (Langston Hughes)

A book-length poem about Harlem and jazz, with motifs of a deferred dream and boogie-woogie.

Lyrical Ballads (Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth)

A collection of poetry written by two hallmark figures of English Romanticism. Important poems in the collection include "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Tintern Abbey"

The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)

A collection of short stories surrounding the colonization of Mars and its aboriginal inhabitants by Earth. Notable stories include Rocket Summer, which describes an Ohio winter temporarily made summer by the massive explosion of an interplanetary missile, and Usher II, in which William Stendahl builds a Martian model of The House of Usher. Its most famous story, There Will Come Soft Rains, follows an unoccupied house in Allendale, California, attempting to cope with a nuclear apocalypse. It's former family are singed shadows on its outer wall, and the house plays a poem by Sara Teasdale before being burned down by a fire.

After the Fall (Arthur Miller)

A criticism of the playwright's divorced wife Marilyn Monroe, New York Jewish intellectual Quentin courts German Holga who is still dealing with her experiences in concentration camps. Other characters include first wife Louisa, and second wife Maggie, who commits suicide in a manner reminiscent of Monroe.

Discourses on Livy (Niccolo Machiavelli)

A description of Roman history which advocates for republicanism, attributing Rome's success to virtu, and claims that the defeat of the Samnites and Latins was more due to luck than skill.

Canzoniere (Petrarch)

Also called the Rhyme Sparse, originally titled Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, a collection of 366 poems, with 317 sonnets, with the rest being Canzoni, sestine, madrigals, or ballate, all about Laura. The collection discusses Laura with her blonde hair caught in the wind to "You who hear the sound of scattered rhymes".

No Longer at Ease (Chinua Achebe)

A member of the Umuofia Progressive Union, Obi Okonkwo leaves for England to study law, before switching to English and meeting Clara. Returning to Lagos with friend Joseph, he joins the Scholarship Board and rejects two bribes. Clara Okeke is an osu, or an outcast, which means he cannot marry her under traditional tribal Igbo rules. Clara gets pregnant and Obi arranges an abortion, but she refuses to see him afterwards, and his mother dies. He takes a bribe to fix his bad financial situation, but is caught in a sting and put on trial.

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (Emily Dickinson)

A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides - You may have met him? Did you not His notice instant is - The Grass divides as with a Comb, A spotted Shaft is seen, And then it closes at your Feet And opens further on - He likes a Boggy Acre - A Floor too cool for Corn - But when a Boy and Barefoot I more than once at Noon Have passed I thought a Whip Lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it It wrinkled And was gone - Several of Nature's People I know, and they know me I feel for them a transport Of Cordiality But never met this Fellow Attended or alone Without a tighter Breathing And Zero at the Bone.

Endgame (Samuel Beckett)

A one-act play with four characters: Hamm, who cannot stand and is blind; Clov, Hamm's servant who is unable to sit; Nagg, Hamm's father who has no legs and lives in a dustbin; Nell, Hamm's mother who lives in a dustbin next to Nagg. Nagg and Nell lost their legs in a bicycling accident in the Ardennes. The play relates an anecodte about an Englishman who is frustrated that his tailor took 30 days to make trousers when God created the world in 6. Famous quotations include the repeated "me to play" and "nothing is funnier than unhappiness."

The Last Man (Mary Shelley)

A post-apocalyptic science fiction story, it follows Lionel Verney surviving in a plague-ridden world.

Mourning Becomes Electra (Eugene O'Neill)

A retelling of Aeschylus's Oresteia, Brigadier-General Ezra Mannon is poisoned by wife Christine Mannon. Gardener Seth Beckwith warns daughter Lavinia Mannon that Christine is having an affair with Adam Brant, captain of the clipper "Flying Trades", who is also the illegitimate child of David Mannon, Ezra's brother, and Canuck nurse Marie Brantôme. Seth is interrupted by the arrival of Peter and his sister Hazel. After their father's murder, Lavinia and brother Orin Mannon witness Christine's affair with Brant and murder both him and Christine. After a trip East, Lavinia is identical to Christine and breaks off her engagement with Peter after Orin goes to clean his pistols and kills himself.

A History of New York (Washington Irving)

A satirical history of Netherlands settlements told by Dietrich Knickerbocker.

Back to Methuselah (George Bernard Shaw)

A series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden), The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920.

The Prioress's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

A seven-year-old school-boy learns medieval hymn 'Alma Redemptoris Mater'. Jews, incited by Satan, kill the boy. Mary places a grain on his tongue, allowing him to sing of his death. When the grain is removed, he dies.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver)

A short story collection by an author known for his economical prose. Stories present include "Little Things" and the title story about Mel, Teresa, Laura, and Nick. Other important stories of his include "A Small Good Thing" about a baker, and "Cathedral", about a blind man who bonds with a wife through imagined pictures of a cathedral.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Goethe)

A sorcerer's apprentice enchants a broom to fetch water by pail, and it coats the floor in water. Unable to stop it, the apprentice cleaves the broom in two with an ax, but both ends reform into new brooms. Finally, the sorcerer returns and stops the brooms.

Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)

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Leda and the Swan

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead. Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens)

Administered by Mortimer Lightwood, John Harmon receives a fortune from his miserly father, cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, on the condition he marries Bella Wilfer. Harmon disappears, and Gaffer Hexam finds a body in the Thames witnessed by Julius Handford. The estate devolves on the Boffins, who hire Handford disguised as John Rokesmith, and hires ballad-seller Silas Wegg. Hexam is accused of murdering Harmon by Roger "Rogue" Riderhood and exiled from the Six Jolly Fellowship Porters, to the mixed reaction of children Charles and Lizzie. Lizzie works as a doll's dressmaker with disabled teenager "Jenny Wren," and Eugene Wrayburn and Bradley Headstone become rivals for her affections. The Boffins take in Betty Higden and later Mrs. Higden, and Headstone wounds Wrayburn. Headstone drowns himself with Rough Riderhood, and Mr. Venus stops Wegg from blackmailing the Boffins. Rokesmith is revealed to be Harmon, and marries Bella, and Wegg is carried away by foundling Sloppy. Other characters include the Lammles, Podnsap, Fledgely, and Mr. Riah.

The Razor's Edge (William Somerset Maugham)

After WW1, Larry Darrell abandons fiance Isabel Bradley and stockbroker job offered by Henry Maturin, father of friend Gray to wander Europe. In Europe, he meets Polish officer Kosti, Benedictine Father Ensheim, and studies Advaita philosophy in Bombay, India. After the 1929 stock market crash, Isabel, now married to Gray, stay in Europe with her rich uncle Eliot Templeton. Isabel coaxes Larry's friend Sophia back into alcoholism, where she is found murdered. Larry returns to America a common man.

The Emperor Jones (Eugene O'Neill)

After committing murder, African American Pullman Porter Brutus Jones becomes emperor of a Caribbean island. He claims to have a charm which protects him from all but silver bullets. White trader Smithers interacts with Jones and rebel leader Lem

Eva Lune (Isabel Allende)

After the Professor's Indian gardener is bitten snake, Consuelo makes love to him on his deathbed, fathering the title character before choking on a chicken bone. Title character meets Huberto Naranjo, who entrusts her with La Senor, a brothel owner. She later unites with Riad Halabi, a man with a cleft plate, who invites her to live with wife Zumela. Zumela loves cousin Kamal and commits suicide. Title character meets transsexual Melecio, AKA Mimi, and loves revolutionary Naranjo. Rolf Carle grows up in Eastern Europe, and is sent to South America after his sadistic father is killed. While a reporter, he falls in love with title character, assists her in a revolutionary jailbreak, and pledge marriage.

Rosemersholm (Henrik Ibsen)

After the suicide of wife Beata, Rosmer loves fellow resident Rebecca. Schoolmaster Kroll manipulates them over their roles in Beata's death, and they kill themselves by jumping intoa mill race to the horror of Mr. Helseth. Others include Brendel and Mortensgaard.

The Misanthrope (Moliere)

Alceste rejects French social conventions and loves Célimène, a vivacious youth who refuses to adopt his unfit attitude. Alceste is loved by prudish Arsinoé and honest Eliante, and he goes on a self-imposed exile after being humiliated for insulting a sonnet by noble Oronte. Célimène refuses to join him, and it is discovered that she has written many identical love letters. Eliante marries Philinte, and they try to convince Alceste to return from exile. Others include marquis Clitandre and manservants Basque and Du Bois.

Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett)

All characters wear bowler hats in this play, which features Vladimir and Estragon waiting under a leafless tree for the title character. They consider hanging themselves, later attempting to with a belt that breaks. Pozzo and his slave Lucky, where Lucky performs the dance "The Net". When they return, their roles have been reversed. This play opens with an incoherent monologue on the "public works of Puncher and Wattmann", commanding the reader to "think!", closely followed by Estragon's declaration that "Nothing to be done" after failing to remove his boot, and Vladimir's discovery of carrots and turnips. Later when prompted to speak, Lucky tells of "the heights of divine apatheia", "Testew and Cunard" and "the stones" and "the skull." Vladimir must urinate while telling a joke about an Englishman in a brothel, forgets the lyrics to a round about the murder of a dog by a cook, and accosts a servant boy who tells that the title figure is not arriving tonight "but surely tomorrow".

The Possessed (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Also called Demons and The Devils. An allegory on nihilism, Pyotr Verkhovensky and Nikolai Stavrogin present antitheses in moral thought, in a revolution of a fictional town. Stepan Verkhovensky represents western influence in Russia. Virginia Woolf translated it for The Hogarth Press. Camus adapted it into a play.

Shakespearean Sonnets (William Shakespeare)

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The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Alyosha, disciple of Elder Zosima, brings brother Dimitri and patriarch Fyodor to the elder to resolve a dispute over Dimitri's inheritance. Dimitri, Fyodor, and Grushenka have a love triangle, and Grushenka humiliates Dimitri's betrothed Katerina. Ilyusha bites Alyoshaand rejects his money because Dimitri assaulted Ilyusha's father Snegiryov. In the "poem in prose" Ivan tells called The Grand Inquisitor, Satan tells Jesus that humans never should have been given free will; in response, Christ kisses him. Elder Zosima dies, and his flesh corrupts immediately, to the disappointment of Alyosha. Monk Rakitin attempts to trick Alyosha into having relations with Grushenka, but both come away with great spiritual enlightenment. After believing Grushenka has left for Fyodor, Dimitri hits his father's servant Gregory with a brass pestle, finds Grushenka, and is arrested for the murder of his father. Bastard of Fyodor and Reeking Lizaveta, Smerdyakov killed Fyodor but is exonerated as he was supposedly having an epileptic seizure during the murder. Friend of Ilyusha, Kolya Krasotkin lays on a railroad track as a train passes over, grows deathly sick, and objects to Ilyusha feeding dog Zhutchka bread with a pin in it on Smerdyakov's suggestion. Smerdyakov admits to Ivan that he murdered Fyodor, blames Ivan as an accomplice for telling him that "everything is permitted" in a world without God, and kills himself. Dimitri is incriminated in court by a drunken letter to Katerina, Dmitri and Grushenka leave for America, and Dimitri escapes from Katerina, who agrees to love in the moment. Alyosha delivers his "speech by the stone" at Ilyusha's funeral. Ivan is notable for his religious dreams, hallucinating the devil and discussing walk one quadrillion miles to heaven, stating "all men will unite to take from life all it can give."

The Old Gringo (Carlos Fuentes)

Ambrose Bierce, an old man, participates in the Mexican Revolution. After they destroy the Miranda hacienda, Bierce joins the army of Pancho Villa's general Tomas Arroyo by shooting a hole through a tossed peso. American Harriet Winslow accompanies the army, has an affair with Arroyo, and requests Bierce's body exhumed by pretending he is her father after he is killed by Arroyo.

The Man Died (Wole Soyinka)

An autobiographical memoir about the 1986 Nobel Literature Laureate's false imprisonment in Nigera, where he describes hearing the voices of Victor Banjo and his grandfather Adekunle Fajuyi.

Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

An elegiac poem for the authors dear friend, its full title mentions the works Endymion and Hyperion. The poem states the title soul is "like a star" that "Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are", asking the reader to weep for them. The poem states that "The breath whose might I have invoked in song / Descends on me" and asks "where was lorn Urania" when the title figure died.

Africa (Petrarch)

An epic poem which describes the Roman civil war, specifically Hannibal Barca and Scipio Africanus

The Time Machine (HG Wells)

An unnamed time traveler goes to A.D. 802,701 to meet the peaceful Eloi, but his machine is stolen outside of a sphinx by the troglodyte Morlocks. The time traveler tries to escape with Eloi Weena, but looses her in a fire before escaping further into the future, where the world is dominated by crabs and butterflies. He uses two strange flowers to prove his travels.Deleted scenes in this novel which opens with a dinner conversation between Filby, the Doctor, and the Amateur Cadger, include "The Grey Man."

Arms and the Man (George Bernard Shaw)

Bulgarian Raina Petkoff hides and marries Captain Bluntschli, who carries chocolate instead of ammo. Former fiance Sergius Saranoff proposes to Louka, who is engaged to Nicola.

Major Barbara (George Bernard Shaw)

Andrew Undershaft matches donation of distiller Bodger, becoming Lord Saxmundham, to Salvation Army. Barbara is daughter of Lady Britomart, manager of Salvation Army, and engaged to Greek-studying foundling Adolphus Cusins. Cusins inherits Undershaft's munitions over son Stephen. Other characters include Bill Walker and Jenny Hill.

Man and Superman (George Bernard Shaw)

Ann Whitefield assigned to guardians Roebuck Ramsden and "Revolutionist's Handbook" author John Tanner. She denies Octavius Robinson and marries Tanner. Others include Mendoz and Henry Straker. The play contains controversial act "Don Juan in Hell".

Anna Chrisitie (Eugene O'Neill)

Anna Chrisitie meets her father, captain of barge Simeon Winthrop, Chris C. Christopherson at bar owned by Johnny the Priest. While on the barge, they rescue Mat Burke who Anna falls in love with. Anna reveals she was raped, and is a prostitute, but reconciles with Mat and Chris.

Persuasion (Jane Austen)

Anne Eliot broke engagement with Commander Frederick Wentworth seven years ago, as father and sister Sir Walter and Elizabeth believed he was no match for Kellynch Hall. Lady Russell persuaded Anne to break it, and the family beset by financial trouble leaves for Bath, with Elizabeth's friend Mrs. Clay. Sister Mary is married to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, while Kellynch Hall is rented by Admiral Croft and wife Sophia. The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles and his sisters Henrietta and Louisa, welcome the Crofts, and both sisters pine after visiting Captain Wentworth. Henrietta is engaged to clergyman Charles Hayter, and the group visits Wentworth's friends Captain Harville and James Benwick, who is interested in the romantics, in Lyme Regis. There, Anne meets William Elliot, whose bad character is revealed by Mrs. Smith. Louisa falls and is incapacitated in Lyme Regis, where she becomes engaged to Benwick. Anne and Wentworth reunite, Lady Russell admits error, and Mrs Clay runs off with William Elliot.

The War of the End of the World (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Antonio Conselheiro, the Counselor, creates a revolution against the Empire of Brazil at Canudos

Roger the Cook's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Apprentice Perkin likes dice and women

The Manciple's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Archer Phebus's white crow tells him his wife had affair; he kills her but then turns against the tattle-tale crow

The Master Builder (Henrik Ibsen)

Architect Halvard Solness hires Hilda Wangle, a girl he had made advances to when she was 13, as a housekeeper, who he again meets while visiting friend Dr. Herdal. His marriage with Aline damaged due to the loss of their children in a fire, Solness employs Knut Brovik, his son Ragnar Brovik, and Kaia Fosli at his architectural firm. Ragnar dates bookkeeper Kaia, and desires promotion in the firm. Acrophobic Solness ascends a steeple he has just constructed, only to fall to his death.

Fathers and Sons (Ivan Turgenev)

Arkady Kirsanov graduates University of Petersburg and returns with friend Bazarov to his father Nikolai's estate called Maryino. Brother Pavel becomes upset with their nihilism, and blind Nikolai attempts to be modern-thinking while fathering a child with servant Fenechka. The pair meets Madame Anna Sergevna Odintsova, who invites Bazarov to her estate Nikolskoe with her sister Katya. Odintsova rejects Bazarov's love, and Kirsanov and him visit his parents. Bazarov and Kirsanov fight over Bazarov's nihilism,a nd they return to Kirsanov's family, where Bazarov wounds Pavel in a duel. Kirsanov marries Katya and Bazarov reforms his ideals before becoming a doctor and dying of blood poisoning.

The School for Wives (Moliere)

Arnolphe raises Agnes from 4 to be his wife, housing her in a residence owned by his alias Monsieur de la Souche. Chrysalde warns Arnolphe about his downfall, and friend Oronte's son Horace loves Agnes. Ultimately, Enrique declares that his daughter Agnes should marry Horace. Others include Alain,

A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning (John Donne)

As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and some say, No: So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; 'Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears, Men reckon what it did, and meant; But trepidation of the spheres, Though greater far, is innocent. Dull sublunary lovers' love (Whose soul is sense) cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove Those things which elemented it. But we by a love so much refined, That our selves know not what it is, Inter-assured of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss. Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat. If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if the other do. And though it in the center sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.

The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Lorraine Hansberry)

Aspiring intellectual writer Sidney and aspiring actress wife Iris struggle to live in Greenwich Village. Activist Alton Scales loves Iris's sister Gloria and persuades Sidney to support politician Wally O'Hara. Learning she is a prostitute, Alton leaves Gloria, and she commits suicide. Grieving Iris and Sidney reunite.

The Wild Duck (Henrik Ibsen)

At a party hosted by merchant Håkon Werle, son Gregers Werle learns that classmate Hjalmar Ekdal married servant Gina, who Gregers believed carried on an affair with Håkon. Working as a photographer, Hjalmar keeps a room in his apartment for animals, the prize animal being a duck wounded by Werle after being shot. Hjalmar's daughter Hedvig is growing blind. Learning that Hedvig is not being schooled, Gregers hears Hjalmar and Old Ekdal hunting animals in the loft. At a lunch with Gregers and friends Relling and Molvik, Håkon tries to get Gregers to return home, but Gregers tells Hjalmar about Gina and Håkon. Mrs. Sørby arrives to say that Hedvig will marry Håkon. Hjalmar is distraught that Hedvig may be Håkon's, and Hedvig plans to sacrifice the wild duck for her mother. Instead, she kills herself in the loft.

Athalie (Jean Racine)

Athalie, widow of the king of Judah, believes she has eliminated the rest of the royal family and abandons Judaism to worship Baal. High Priest Joad raises Joash, a surviving Jewish heir. Athalie dreams of Joash as a baby, demanding the child as tribute from Joad. Joad proclaims Joash king and barricades the priests in the temple. Upon the reveal of Joash's heritage, Athalie's sieging troops flee and Joad executes her. Other characters include military officer Abner and Joad's wife Jehoshebath.

The Franklin's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Aurelius removes all rocks from British coast to win Arveragus's wife Dorigen. After witnessing the couple's true love, he absolves Dorigen from the promise.

A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'Connor)

Bailey takes his family, including his wife, children John Wesley and June Star, and the Grandmother, on a road-trip to Florida. They visit a diner run by Red Sammy for lunch, seeing his pet Gray Monkey chained to a chinaberry tree, while Bailey's wife reminisces about Coca-Cola shareholder Edward Teagarden. The Grandmother describes a mansion with a secret-panel of treasure before realizing it is in East Tennessee not Florida, and causes an accident by kicking a basket with her cat Pitty Sings in it. The Misfit and his mook Bobby Lee execute the family before shooting the Grandmother three times in the head. Famous quotes of the Misfit include "it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life" and "It's no real pleasure in life"

Death and the King's Horseman (Wole Soyinka)

Based on Yoruba tradition, horseman Elesin must commit ritual suicide to mark the death of the king, along with the king's dog and horse. British colonialist ruler Simon Pilkings stops the suicide, causing Elesin's medicine-studying son Olunde to commit suicide to return order to tradition. Elesin kills himself out of grief at the death of his son. The play was written during the other's time at Cambridge as a fellow at Churchill College, during his exile from Nigeria.

The Open Boat (Stephen Crane)

Based on the author's experience surviving the shipwreck of the SS commodore with oiler Billie Higgins who drowned. Opening with "None of them knew the color of the sky", the correspondent, the captain, the cook, and the oiler Billie all float on a small dinghy. The see a lighthouse and a man who appears to be waving at them, and the correspondent quotes "Bingen on the Rhine" by Caroline Norton, about a soldier of the Legion dying in Algiers. They swim to shore, but find Billie drowned.

The Lady of the Camelias (Alexandre Dumas Jr.)

Based on the author's relationship with Marie Duplessis, courtesan Marguerite Gautier loves Armand Duval. Duval's father convinces her to leave, and she dies of consumption. It is the inspiration for Verdi's La Traviata.

The Moon and the Sixpence (William Somerset Maugham)

Based on the life of Paul Gauguin, Charles Strickland abandons his job as a stockbroker to be an artists in France. He is supported by Dutch painter Dirk Stroeve, whose wife Blanche leaves him for Strickland before committing suicide. Strickland moves to Tahiti, contracts leprosy, and paints his masterpiece on the wall of his hut, which his native wife burns after he dies.

Voss (Patrick White)

Based on the life of Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, it focuses on the relationship of German explorer Voss and Laura in New South Wales at the house of patron Mr. Bonner. Voss is lost in the desert with his party of Europeans and Aborigines, and Laura Trevelyan adopts a young child in his absence. Twenty years after, Laura's cousin Belle unveils a statue of Voss with final surviving expedition member Mr. Judd present.

The Wasps (Aristophanes)

Bdelycleon holds law-addicted father Philocleon in house arrest, when he is swarmed by waspish choruses of juries. Two dogs, resembling Cleon and Laches, argue over the theft of Sicilian cheese in a mock trial, and Philocleon is overwhelmed with grievances placed against him.

Because I could not stop for Death (Emily Dickinson)

Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me - The Carriage held but just Ourselves - And Immortality. We slowly drove - He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility - We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess - in the Ring - We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain - We passed the Setting Sun - Or rather - He passed Us - The Dews drew quivering and Chill - For only Gossamer, my Gown - My Tippet - only Tulle - We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground - The Roof was scarcely visible - The Cornice - in the Ground - Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity -

The Counterfeiters (Andre Gide)

Bernard works as Edouard's secretary while Olivier travels abroad with Comte de Passavant. Secondary stories include brothers Georges and Vincent, and Boris who commits suicide on a dare by Ghéridanisol.

A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)

Blanche Dubois moves from Laurel, Mississippi, to New Orleans French Quarter with sister Stella and her husband Stanley K after she loses family estate Belle Reve to creditors. Stella is pregnant, Stanley finds love letters from Blanche's dead husband, and Blanche meets Mitch at Stanley's poker. Stanley hits Stella, causing Blanche and others to refuge in neighbor Eunice Hubbell's apartment. Stanley learns that Blanche's husband Allan Grey committed suicide after being caught with each other, and that she lost her job as a teacher for an affair with a student, after which she stayed at a prostitute hotel The Flamingo. Mitch rejects Blanche after learning these things, and Blanche shouts 'fire' to be alone. While Stella is in labor, Stanley rapes Blanche, and she has a mental breakdown, declaring Whoever you are, I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers." Others include Steve Hubbell and Pablo Gonzales.

This Side of Paradise (F Scot Fitzgerald)

Book 1- The Romantic Egoist: Minnesotan Amory Blaine attends Princeton, leaving his eccentric mother Beatrice and befriending Monsignor Darcy, and falls in love with Isabelle Borgé, although they break up. Interlude: Blaine goes to fight in WW1 as a bayonet instructor. Book 2- The Education of a Personage: Blaine falls in love with Rosalind Connage, who leaves him to marry a richer man. Friend Eleanor Savage rides her horse off a cliff. After the death of Monsignor Darcy, Blaine says "I know myself, but that is all-" Others include Clara Page and recurring character Thomas Parke D'Invilliers.

A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

Book One-Recalled to Life: Tellson's Bank employee Jerry Cruncher carries a message for Jarvis Lorry informing him that Dr. Alexandre Manette has been freed from the Bastille after 18 years. Lorry brings daughter Lucie Manette and Miss Pross to meet Manette, making shoes and lodging with wine-sellers Ernest and Therese Defarge. Book Two- The Golden Thread French emigre Charles Darnay is accused of being a spy against the British Crown, but lawyer Stryver discredits key witnesses John Barsad and Roger Cly by pointing out Darnay's resemblance to barrister Sydney Carton. Marquis St. Evrémonde kills Gaspard's child at St. Antoine with a carriage, tossing out coins as payment, only for them to be thrown back. Gaspard murders the Marquis, leaving the note "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from JACQUES", before being hung. Darnay and Lucie marry, with the Defarges leading the storm of the Bastille and searching Manette's cell "One Hundred and Five, North Tower". Servant Gabelle pleads to Darnay as the new marquis for assistance, so he sets off for France. Book Three- The Track of a Storm Darnay is arrested and imprisoned in La Force Prison. A year passes, and Manette testifies for Darnay, acquitting him. However, Darnay is arrested again, with an account against his father discovered in Manette's cell as the incriminating evidence. Miss Pross recognizes brother Solomon, disguised and the same person as Barsad, and Manette's account describes the decimation of a peasant family by the first Marquis, save one young sister, who is Madame Defarge. Her life in danger, Lucie flees to England, the deafened Miss Prose kills Madame Defarge in a gunfight, and Carton swaps places with Darnay to be executed.

The People, Yes (Carl Sandburg)

Book-length poem published in the great Depression. Tells story of Paul Bunyan among others and famous for its plain-spoken English.

David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)

Born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, England, the title character lives with maid Peggotty and stepfather Edward Murdstone, who sends him to live with Mr. Peggotty, Lil Em'ly, Ham, and Mrs. Gummidge in Yarmouth. After biting Murdstone, he is sent by him and Jane to Salem House, run by Mr. Creakle, where he befriends James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles. Peggotty marries Mr. Barkis, Wilkins Micawber is sent to King's Bench Prison, the title character lives in London with aunt Betsey Trotwoot, and he attends the school of Dr. Strong. He befriends lawyer Wickfield and daugher Agnes, stopping secretary Uriah Heep from stealing his assets. Steerforth abandons Emily, who is discovered thanks to prostitute Martha and taken with the Peggotty family to Australia. A fiction writer, the protagonist marries Dora Spenlow, is widowed, and finally marries Agnes.

The Plague (Albert Camus)

Bothered by the sun and heat, Mersault shoots the Arab while at the beach with Marie and Raymond Sintes. He does not cry at his mother's funeral, attends Celeste's cafe, and visits the Home for Aged Persons in Marengo. Other characters include Salamano, the old miner who abuses his dog.

The Stranger (Albert Camus)

Bothered by the sun and heat, Mersault shoots the Arab while at the beach with Marie and Raymond Sintes. He does not cry at his mother's funeral, attends Celeste's cafe, and visits the Home for Aged Persons in Marengo. Other characters include Salamano, the old miner who abuses his dog.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tennessee Williams)

Brick and Margaret, often called Maggie the Cat, attend a party for Mississippi patriarch Big Daddy Pollitt, "the Delta's biggest cotton-planter", after he returns from the Ochsner Clinic clean of cancer. Big Daddy and Big Mama are not aware that Big Daddy is actually terminally ill, though the rest of the family is keyed into this. Former football star Brick develops alcoholism after the suicide of Skipper, and ignores brother Gooper and wife Mae's attempts to control the family wealth. Maggie, questioning their relationship, forces Skipper to have sex with her, and when he can't, he commits suicide. Brick has not slept with Maggie in a long time. Irritated by the family's mendacity, Brick reveals Big Daddy's diagnosis, and Maggie lies about being pregnant to secure inheritance.

The Mandrake (Niccolo Machiavelli)

Callimaco wants to sleep with Lucrezia, the young beautiful wife of elderly fool Nicia. Callimaco conspires with marriage broker Ligurio and a priest to trick Nicia to use a mandrake to increase Lucrezia's fertility. Nicia believes the first man to have sex with Lucrezia after the madrake will die, and allows Callimaco in disguise to have sex with her. Lucrezia views the relationship as divine providence and allows the affair to continue.

Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Carer Kathy reminisces about time at Hailsham boarding school, where students make art for Madame, and her friends there Tommy and Ruth. A teacher, called a guardian, reveals the students are cloned organ farms, and Tommy, Ruth and Kathy move into the Cottages at 16. Realizing that their organ farm status can be deferred by true love, Kathy searches for her possible, or her original model. Tommy and Ruth are dating, but Tommy loves Kathy and helps her find a tape from Hailsham. After Ruth completes and is euthanized, Tommy and Kathy date and attempt to seek a deferral from Madame and headmistress Miss Emily, when they discover that no such provision exists. Tommy completes and dies. The title comes from the song on the tape, Songs After Dark, by fictional singer Judy Bridgewater

The Miller's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Carpenter John's wife Alison scorns Absolon but loves scholar Nicholas, who convinces John to suspend three tubs in the attic in preparation for a second Flood; Absolon brands Nicholas's rump

Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)

Catherine Morland loves book Mysteries of Udolpho, and is invited by the Allens in Fullerton to accompany them to Bath. There, she meets Henry Tilney, and through Mrs. Thorpe, she meets friend Isabella. John Thorpe is friends with Catherine's brother James at Oxfords. Isabella and James become engaged, and she flirts with Captain Tilney. Catherine stays with Tilneys at Northanger Abbey, where she believes General Tilney murdered his wife. Henry corrects Catherine, James breaks off from Isabella and becomes engaged to Captain Tilney, although Henry and Eleanor Tilney doubt this. General Tilney forbids Catherine and Henry from marrying, but reneges and they marry.

The Last Tycoon (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Cecelia Brady flies home to LA with author Wylie White and Mr. Schwartz. Stuck in Nashville, they visit the birthplace of Andrew Jackson, but it's closed, and Mr. Schwartz gives them a note to pass to Hollywood studio manager Monroe Stahr before committing suicide. During an earthquake, Stahr sees Kathleen Moore clinging to a statue, and falls in love with her. Cecelia's father Pat Brady doesn't want Stahr as a business partner, and hires a contract killer, but Stahr survives. Stahr meets with communist labor strikers and hires another killer to kill Brady, who succeeds. However, Stahr's plane crashes, leaving Cecelia alone.

The Second Nun's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Cecilia converts husband Valerian and his brother Tiburtius through Saint Urban; Almachius tries to make them sacrifice to Jupiter but they refuse and are executed

Riders in the Chariot (Patrick White)

Centered around a mystical vision of a chariot from the Book of Ezekiel, it follows four individuals in Australian suburb Sarsaparilla. Miss Hare seeks a housekeeper to care for manor Xanadu, hiring Mrs. Jolley. Holocaust survivor Mordecai Himmelfarb is crucified at the end of the novel, and is denied three times by aboriginal Alf Dubbo. The last main character is Ruth Godbold, a washerwoman.

Babylon Revisited (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Charlie Wales attempts to regain his naughter Honoria from sister-in-law Marion and husband Lincoln Peters. His wife Helene has died in his partying days in the 1920s, and he gives his card to bartender Alix, later meeting Lorraine and Duncan, former friends. Marion refuses to let Honoria live with him.

The Rainbow (DH Lawrence)

Charting the Brangwen family in industrial England, Tom Brangwen falls in love with Polish refugee Lydia. The next generation, Anna and Will, have a relationship full of conflict. Tom's granddaughter Ursula strives for meaning in her conformist society, having a same-sex relationship with a teacher and a failed relationship with Polish-heritage British soldier Anton Skrebensky, before having a vision of a rainbow over humanity.

Lady Chatterley's Lover (DH Lawrence)

Constance Reid AKA Lady Chatterley is married to Sir Clifford Chatterley, a handsome man paralyzed from the waist down after a Great War injury who has a motorized wheelchair. Emotionally neglected, she intimates an affair with groundskeeper Oliver Mellors. Older sister Hilda encourages Constance to marry abstract painter Duncan Forbes. She also has an affair with playwright Michaelis, an intellectual who gathers at the estate of Wragby. Oliver's wife Bertha Coutts tells him he makes love "the italian way", and Constance meets gondoliers Daniele and Giovanni while staying at the Villa Esmeralda.

Arrow of God (Chinua Achebe)

Chief priest of god Ulu worshiped by the six towns of Umuaro, Ezeulu wars against village Okperi, when the conflict is resolved by British overseer T.K. Winterbottom. Christian missionary John Goodcountry attempts to convert the Igbo people to Christianity like the people of the Niger delta. Ezeulu is invited into the colonial rule, but doesn't want to be the "white man's chief" and is subsequently imprisoned. Ezeulu refuses to call the New Yam Feast to allow teh villages to harvest the yams, and they all rot. Goodcountry uses this obstinance to convert the Igbo people to Christianity. During a ceremony, Ezeulu's son Obika dies, and this is viewed as the final sign of Ulu favoring the Christianity.

Christopher Unborn (Carlos Fuentes)

Christopher Palomar is born 500 years after Columbus's arrival. Each chapter in the book is named after a month, and it is based on Tristram Shandy.

The Fall (Albert Camus)

Clamence, a lawyer and self-professed judge-penitent, compares the concentric circles of Amsterdam to the circles of Hell and witnesses a woman committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. While at the bar Mexico City, he receives a panel of the Ghent altarpiece, and he is earlier punched by a motorcyclist.

The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende)

Clara del Valle, a girl with psychic powers, predicts her sister Rosa the Beautiful's death and her marriage to Rosa's miner fiance Esteban Trueba, living at his hacienda "Las Tres Marias". Esteban appoints peasant Pedro Segundo foreman and rapes Pancho Garcia, giving birth to Esteban Garcia. Clara speaks for the first time in 9 years to accept the proposal, befriending his sister Ferula. Clara gives birth to daughter Blanca and sons Jaime and Nicolas. Blanca's affair with Pedro Tercero is revealed by French count Jean de Satigny. Esteban cuts off three of Pedro's fingers, while Clara fathers his child Alba. Esteban Trueba starts a coup as a Senator for Conservative Party, which grows out of control, and he helps Blanca and Pedro Tercero to Canada. Alba is tortured and raped by Esteban Garcia, but refuses to reveal the location of her lover Miguel. Trueba motto "those who have always won will win again"

The Eolian Harp (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Composed at clevedon, somersetshire My pensive Sara! thy soft cheek reclined Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is To sit beside our Cot, our Cot o'ergrown With white-flowered Jasmin, and the broad-leaved Myrtle, (Meet emblems they of Innocence and Love!) And watch the clouds, that late were rich with light, Slow saddening round, and mark the star of eve Serenely brilliant (such would Wisdom be) Shine opposite! How exquisite the scents Snatched from yon bean-field! and the world so hushed! The stilly murmur of the distant Sea Tells us of silence. And that simplest Lute, Placed length-ways in the clasping casement, hark! How by the desultory breeze caressed, Like some coy maid half yielding to her lover, It pours such sweet upbraiding, as must needs Tempt to repeat the wrong! And now, its strings Boldlier swept, the long sequacious notes Over delicious surges sink and rise, Such a soft floating witchery of sound As twilight Elfins make, when they at eve Voyage on gentle gales from Fairy-Land, Where Melodies round honey-dropping flowers, Footless and wild, like birds of Paradise, Nor pause, nor perch, hovering on untamed wing! O! the one Life within us and abroad, Which meets all motion and becomes its soul, A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere— Methinks, it should have been impossible Not to love all things in a world so filled; Where the breeze warbles, and the mute still air Is Music slumbering on her instrument. And thus, my Love! as on the midway slope Of yonder hill I stretch my limbs at noon, Whilst through my half-closed eyelids I behold The sunbeams dance, like diamonds, on the main, And tranquil muse upon tranquility: Full many a thought uncalled and undetained, And many idle flitting phantasies, Traverse my indolent and passive brain, As wild and various as the random gales That swell and flutter on this subject Lute! And what if all of animated nature Be but organic Harps diversely framed, That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze, At once the Soul of each, and God of all? But thy more serious eye a mild reproof Darts, O beloved Woman! nor such thoughts Dim and unhallowed dost thou not reject, And biddest me walk humbly with my God. Meek Daughter in the family of Christ! Well hast thou said and holily dispraised These shapings of the unregenerate mind; Bubbles that glitter as they rise and break On vain Philosophy's aye-babbling spring. For never guiltless may I speak of him, The Incomprehensible! save when with awe I praise him, and with Faith that inly feels; Who with his saving mercies healèd me, A sinful and most miserable man, Wildered and dark, and gave me to possess Peace, and this Cot, and thee, heart-honored Maid!

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years (Carl Sandburg)

Comprehensive biography of Lincoln, divided into two parts. Sandburg won a Pulitzer prize for the biography.

Frost at Midnight (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Considered the best of his conversation poems, the poem wishes that the artist's son Hartley will have a better youth than he, and that nature represents God. The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before. The inmates of my cottage, all at rest, Have left me to that solitude, which suits Abstruser musings: save that at my side My cradled infant slumbers peacefully. 'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs And vexes meditation with its strange And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood, This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood, With all the numberless goings-on of life, Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not; Only that film, which fluttered on the grate, Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing. Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature Gives it dim sympathies with me who live, Making it a companionable form, Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit By its own moods interprets, every where Echo or mirror seeking of itself, And makes a toy of Thought. But O! how oft, How oft, at school, with most believing mind, Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars, To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oft With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower, Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day, So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear Most like articulate sounds of things to come! So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt, Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams! And so I brooded all the following morn, Awed by the stern preceptor's face, mine eye Fixed with mock study on my swimming book: Save if the door half opened, and I snatched A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up, For still I hoped to see the stranger's face, Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved, My play-mate when we both were clothed alike! Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side, Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm, Fill up the intersperséd vacancies And momentary pauses of the thought! My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, And think that thou shalt learn far other lore, And in far other scenes! For I was reared In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim, And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars. But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds, Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible Of that eternal language, which thy God Utters, who from eternity doth teach Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher! he shall mould Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask. Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch Of mossy apple-tree, while the night-thatch Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall Heard only in the trances of the blast, Or if the secret ministry of frost Shall hang them up in silent icicles, Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.

The Leatherstocking Tales (James Fenimore Cooper)

Contains five novels (In chronological order): "The Deerslayer", "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Pathfinder", "The Pioneers", and "The Prairie". Protagonist Natty Bumppo is referred to by a number of nicknames throughout the pentalogy. Before the events of "The Deerslayer, he was known as "Straight-Tongue", "The Pigeon", and the "Lap-Ear". After buying his first rifle, he gained the sobriquet "Deerslayer." He is subsequently known as "Hawkeye" and "La Longue Carabine" in The Last of the Mohicans, as "Pathfinder" in The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea, as "Leatherstocking" (from which the series' title is drawn) in The Pioneers, and as "the trapper" in The Prairie.

The Lucy Poems (William Wordsworth)

Contains five poems: "Strange fits of passion have I known" "She dwelt among the untrodden ways" "I traveled among unknown men" "Three years she grew in sun and shower" "A slumber did my spirit seal"

A Tale of Two Gardens (Octavio Paz)

Contains poems "Mutra" and "East Slope", and is inspired by the writer's home in Mexico and ambassadorship in India.

The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin)

Contains two essays: "My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation," and "Down At The Cross — Letter from a Region of My Mind." "My Dungeon Shook" describes the role of race in America to the author's 14-y'o nephew., while "Down At The Cross" describes the author's experience with Christianity and the Nation of Islam.

The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper)

Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of Lieutenant Colonel Munro, are traveling with Major Duncan Heyward from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry, accompanied by singing teacher David Gamut, guards Natty Bumppo, Chingachgook, and Uncas, and French Huron spy Magua. Bumppo rescues Cora and Alice disguised as a bear, and later Delaware chief Tamemund. Ultimately, Magua, Uncas, and Cora are all killed in a cliff-side confrontation.

Egmont (Goethe)

Count Egmont, a famous Dutch warrior, is imprisoned by the Duke of Alba, and despite the attempts of Egmont's mistress Klärchen, he is sentenced to death. Klärchen commits suicide, and Egmont dies a martyr for liberty, independence, and oppression.

Madmen and Specialists (Wole Soyinka)

Cripple, Blindman, Goyi, and Aafaa are mendicants who gamble their bodies in a game of dice. Dr. Bero imprisons his physician father.

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin)

David, while in Europe with fiancee Hella, carries out homosexual relationship with title bartender. He meets Jacques and Guillaume, who is murdered by the title character. Ultimately, the title Italian bartender is executed for the crime.

The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

Esther Greenwood works for New York newspaper editor Jay Cee, misses love interest Buddy, befriends Doreen, Betsy, and benefactress Philomena Guinea. She quits internship at Lady's Day Parade, and Doctor Gordon assigns her electroconvulsive therapy, which contributes to her attempted suicide. She is rehabilitated by female Dr. Nolan, and the bell jar over her is lifted. famous first line is "It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs"

Beloved (Toni Morrison)

Dedicated to "Sixty Million and More", Sethe lives at 124 Bluestone Road with daughter Denver after sons Howard and Buglar run away. The house is haunted by a reverant of Sethe's other daughter.Her husband Halle's mother Baby Suggs dies, and Paul D, a former slave, comes to the house to force out the spirit with reality. The spirit manifests as a young woman named Beloved who befriends Sethe and forces Paul D out. Paul D has sex with Beloved, and plans to start of family with Sethe, who is stigmatized. After escaped plantation Sweet Home, Sethe was recaptured and attempted to kill her children. Guilty and believing Beloved is her dead daughter, Sethe devotes herself to caring for Beloved. A white man comes, and Sethe attacks him with an icepick before another woman exorcises Beloved. Others include ferryman Stamp Paid, Brandywine, and schoolteacher, who burnt Sixo alive

The Prelude (William Wordsworth)

Depicting the "growth of a poet's mind", a long autobiographical poem opening with "O there is blessing in this gentle breeze." This poem includes a section on "Imagination and Taste, How Impaired and Restored" and describes the author's residence in Cambridge and France. In it, the narrator steals a boat and is frightened by a mountain peak.

Troilus and Criseyde (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Derived from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato, used rime royal for the first time in English and coined the phrase "All good things must come to an end". Daughter of Calchas, Criseyde united with Trojan prince Troilus, with the help of her uncle Pandarus, before falling in love with Diomede

The Tale of the Canon's Yeoman [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Describes the misdeeds of two alchemists and the futility of alchemy

Kubla Khan (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Describes the palace of Kubla Khan called Xanadu, "a stately pleasure-dome", as well as the sacred river Alph. The poem was inspired by an opium-dream and book "Purchas, his pilgrims", and interrupted by the Person from Porlock. In it, an Abyssinian maid plays the dulcimer. Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover! And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, A mighty fountain momently was forced: Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail: And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred river. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean; And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war! The shadow of the dome of pleasure Floated midway on the waves; Where was heard the mingled measure From the fountain and the caves. It was a miracle of rare device, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora. Could I revive within me Her symphony and song, To such a deep delight 'twould win me, That with music loud and long, I would build that dome in air, That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

The Parson's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Description of Confession, 7 Deadly Sins, and Penitence; Chaucer's Retraction

The Diary of a Superfluous Man (Ivan Turgenev)

Diary of a literary archetype. Characters include Lizabeta Kirillovna and the disillusioned, cynical Tchulkaturin

Tender is the Night (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Dick and Nicole Diver stay at a villa in the South of France, where actress Rosemary Hoyt is infatuated with Dick. Abe North is drunk at a party, while Tommy Barban defends the Divers. Murdered black man Jules Peterson is found in Rosemary's bed, and Dick helps remove the body. Dick married Nicole after being her therapist for her psychological issues with her father. He uses her money to start a Swiss clinic. Dick goes to Rome and has a disastrous affair with Rosemary. Humiliated, he beings to drink, and Nicole divorces him for Tommy. Others include the McKisco couple and the Gregarovius couple

Death of a Naturalist (Seamus Heaney)

Digging (Poem) Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner's bog. Once I carried him milk in a bottle Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Digging. The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head. But I've no spade to follow men like them. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I'll dig with it. Death of a Naturalist (Poem) All year the flax-dam festered in the heart Of the townland; green and heavy headed Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods. Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun. Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell. There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies, But best of all was the warm thick slobber Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied Specks to range on window sills at home, On shelves at school, and wait and watch until The fattening dots burst, into nimble Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how The daddy frog was called a bullfrog And how he croaked and how the mammy frog Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too For they were yellow in the sun and brown In rain. Then one hot day when fields were rank With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges To a coarse croaking that I had not heard Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus. Right down the dam gross bellied frogs were cocked On sods; their loose necks pulsed like sails. Some hopped: The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting. I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it. Mid-Term Break (Poem) I sat all morning in the college sick bay Counting bells knelling classes to a close. At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home. In the porch I met my father crying— He had always taken funerals in his stride— And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow. The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram When I came in, and I was embarrassed By old men standing up to shake my hand And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble'. Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, Away at school, as my mother held my hand In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs. At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses. Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him For the first time in six weeks. Paler now, Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple, He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot. No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four-foot box, a foot for every year. Personal Helicon (Poem) As a child, they could not keep me from wells And old pumps with buckets and windlasses. I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss. One, in a brickyard, with a rotted board top. I savoured the rich crash when a bucket Plummeted down at the end of a rope. So deep you saw no reflection in it. A shallow one under a dry stone ditch Fructified like any aquarium. When you dragged out long roots from the soft mulch A white face hovered over the bottom. Others had echoes, gave back your own call With a clean new music in it. And one Was scaresome, for there, out of ferns and tall Foxgloves, a rat slapped across my reflection. Now, to pry into roots, to finger slime,

The Frogs (Aristophanes)

Dionysus and slave Xanthias seek to rescue Euripides from the Underworld. Consulting with Herakles dressed as a bear, Dionysus is ferried by Charon, annoyed by the frogs croaking Brekekekèx-koàx-koáx, and tormented by Xanthias that monster Empusa is nearby. Dionysus makes Xanthias trade clothes with him after Aeacus accosts him, believing he is Hercules, and he also serves as the judge in a contest for "Best Tragic Poet" between Aeschylus and Euripides. Aeschylus inspires the phrase Lekythion after repeated "lost his little flask of oil", while Euripides mocks repetition in Aeschylus's "Myrmidons". Ultimately, Aeschylus names heavier objects and grants better advice, and Dionysus chooses to revive him. Sophocles is made best poet in his place.

On Illustrious Men (Petrarch)

Divided into Liber 1 and Liber 2, it is a collection of biographies on 24 famous Romans and biblical religious figures.

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

Divided into five staves, Ebenezer Scrooge allows Bob Cratchit Christmas Day off seven years after the death of business partner Jacob Marley. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his sister Fan, the party of employer Fezziwig, and his former fiancee Belle. The Ghost of Christmas Present takes him to Fred's Christmas party, introduces him to Tiny Tim, and shows Scrooge the children Ignorance and Want. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Old Joe fencing Scrooge's belongings after death. He sents Fred a turkey, provides Bob a pay raise, and serves as a second father for Tiny Tim.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

Divided into three categories, The Hearth and the Salamander, The Sieve and the Sand, and Burning Bright, book-burning firefighter Guy Montag is fascinated with Clarisse McClellan. His wife Mildred wears a seashell radio, obsesses over the TV walls of her parlor, and is treated for an overdose of sleeping pills with a mechanical snake by EMTs. A woman burns herself alive rather than leave her books, Clarisse is killed in a car crash, and Captain Beatty introduces him to the Mechanical Hound. Montag recites Dover Beach to Mrs. Phelps, Mildred, and Mrs. Bowles, after receiving a green bullet earpiece from Faber. Planning for Faber to bus to St. Louis, Montag escapes the city just as it is bombed, meeting with Granger, and memorizes Ecclesiastes.

Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood)

Dr. Simon Jordan interviews murderess Grace Marks. Grace had a drunk Irish father who attempted to rape her. Describing James McDermott's advances and Thomas Kinnear's affair with Nancy Montgomery, Grace is put into a trance by Dr. DuPont, a "neuro-hypnotist", when the ghost of Mary Whitney surfaces and describes her killing of McDermott, Kinnear, and Montgomery. Harassed by his landlady, Jordan skips town and joins the Union Army.

An Enemy of the People (Henrik Ibsen)

Dr. Stockmann and Mrs. Stockmann entertain brother Peter, who is the mayor, newspaper editor Hovstad, two sons Ejilif and Morten. Daughter Petra brings Dr. a letter confirming that Morten Kiil's tannery is corrupting local baths. Hovstad and printer Aslaksen agree to print the story, but mayor Peter states that the story will ruin the town. Hovstad and Billing agree with the mayor, and Dr. calls a town hall meeting, where he and his family are ousted from the town as an "enemy of the people"

The Weary Blues (Langston Hughes)

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o' those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man's soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— "Ain't got nobody in all this world, Ain't got nobody but ma self. I's gwine to quit ma frownin' And put ma troubles on the shelf." Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more— "I got the Weary Blues And I can't be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can't be satisfied— I ain't happy no mo' And I wish that I had died." And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

The Legend of Good Women (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Due to perceived misogyny in his Troilus and Criseyde, Queen Alceste commissions the author to write about Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermnestra

Sonnet Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!

A Pale View of Hills (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Etsuko reflects with daughter Niki about her time as a young girl in Japan and the suicide of her eldest daughter Keiko. She leaves her Japanese husband Jiro to move to England with an Englishman. She also recounts the parallel story of Sachiko, a Japanese woman who marries daughter Mariko to an American soldier named Frank

Thesmophoriazusae (Aristophanes)

Euripides sends male Mnesilochus to infiltrate a cabal of women scheming against him. Micca pleads for her wine to be spared, and homosexual messenger Cleisthenes reveals Mnesilochus's deception.

The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas Sr.)

Edmond Dantes returns to Marseille to marry Catalon fiancee Mercedes. Leclere, his dying captain, tasks him with delivering a letter to General Bertrand, exiled on Elba, and a letter to a stranger in Paris, Noirtier, father of deputy Villefort. Fernand Mondego and Danglars plot for Dantes to be imprisoned in Château d'If as a Bonapartist, in front of drunk Caderousse. Befriending the Mad Priest Abbé Faria, Dantes disguises himself as Abbe Busoni, finds buried treasure on the island of Monte Cristo, gives Caderousse a diamond, and buys the debts of Morrel. Dantes, reappearing as the rich Count of Monte Cristo, plans to destroy those who have crossed him. Fernard is caught for selling Vasiliki and Haydee, the wife and daughter of Ali Pasha of Janina, into slavery. Albert, son of Mercedes and Fernard, challenges him to a duel, but stops once he hears the Count is his father. Villefort attempts to kill his child with Madame Danglars, but the boy named Benedetto is saved by Bertucci. Benedetto, disguised as Viscount Andrea Cavalcanti stabs Caderousse and orchestrated Danglars' bankruptcy, who was kidnapped by bandit Luigi Vampa. Villefort's daughter Valentine ends her engagement with Franz d'Épinay, avoids poisoning by Heloise, and loves Maximilien Morrel.

The Book of the Duchess (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Elegy for Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt. John is described as a "man in black", who tells how chess queen is checkmated by Fortuna in a hall frescoed with "the romance of the rose". Begins with the story of Ceyx and Alcyone, and preceded by poem "an ABC".

Odour of the Chrysanthemums (DH Lawrence)

Elizabeth Bates waits for her binge-drinking husband Walter to return from the mines. She interacts with children John and Anna, as well as neighbor Mrs. Wrigley, before learning that Walter has died in a cave accident. Walter's body is carried into the house.

The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)

English butler Stevens dedicates his life to Lord Darlington. After receiving a letter from former coworker Miss Kenton about her unhappy marriage, Stevens borrows a car from Mr. Farraday to meet Kenton, now Mrs. Benn. Darlington has a meeting with English and Nazi sympathizers like Herr von Ribbentropp, Mr. Dupont, and Mr. Lewis over the death of Herr Breman to influence World War 2.

The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Epileptic Prince Myshkin meets Rogozhin, Nastassya Filippovna, and Lebedyev on a train to visit Madame Yepanchina, distant acquaintance of General Yepanchina. While at the Yepanchina estate, Myshkin meets ambitious Ganya and aristocratic Totsky, who plans to wed Filippovna to Ganya, as well as Lizaveta Prokovyevna and her three children Alexandra, Adelaida and Aglaya, who he tells about his love of Marie. He rents a room in the Ivolgin apartment with Ganya, Varya, Kolva, Nina Alexandrovna, General Ivolgin, and roomer Ferdyshchenko. Filippovna struggles to decide between Rogozhin and Myshkin. The devil-like Rogozhin attacks Myshkin with a knife, and Myshkin and Lebedyev reside in Pavlovsk with the Yepanchina family. Aglaya recites Pushkin's "The Poor Knight" to woo Myshkin, but is interrupted by Burdovsky, Ippolit Terentyev, Doctorenko, and Keller, who sue Myshkin for financial damages. Myshkin. Myshkin shatters a Chinese vase the night before his wedding with Aglaya, witnesses Filippovna faint, and helps Rogozhin vigil over Filippovna's body after Rogozhin murders her.

Sweet Bird of Youth (Tennessee Williams)

Failed St. Cloud, Florida native Chance Wayne, a gigolo, accompanies aging film star Alexandra del Lago. He transmitted an STD to Heavenly Finley, resulting in her hysterectomy, and is ultimately castrated by the town.

Strange Interlude (Eugene O'Neill)

Famous for its revealing stream-of-consciousness soliloquies, Nina Leeds rebukes novelist Charles Marsden and marries amiable fool Sam Evans after the death of her fiance in WW1. After discovering that insanity runs in Sam Evan's family, she aborts his child and conceives a new one with physician Ned Darrell. Twenty years later, son Gordon Evans is nearly an adult and Sam dies of a stroke, leaving Nina to marry Charles Marsden.

Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)

Famous from throwing "the cat" in a wrestling match, Okwonko desires to repair the bad reputation of father Unoka. Okwonko takes in ward Ikemefuna, but the Oracle of Umuofia declares the boy must die. Ezeudu warns Okwonko not to kill the boy, but he does anyways, and his daughter Enzima falls ill before his gun accidentally discharges, killing Ezeudu's son. Away in Mbanta, Okwonko returns to find Mr. Brown has brought Christianity to the town. When the colonial court attempts to charge Okwonko, he hangs himself.

The Acharnians (Aristophanes)

Farmer Dikaiopolis negotiates a private peace with Sparta through Amphitheus, opening the market to them. He divides Athenian general Lamachus and the title charcoal-burners whether or not the war should continue, and Dikaiopolis receives wineskins as prizes after the war is ended, to the disappointment of Lamachus.

Where the Air is Clear (Carlos Fuentes)

Federico Robles, a financier in Mexico City, loses everything, Ixca Cienfuegos searches for a sacrifice for the gods, and Norma is loved by the aspiring poet turned successful screenwriter Rodrigo.

Aura (Carlos Fuentes)

Felipe Montero agrees to help Consuela write the memoirs of her husband General Llorente. Consuela's title daughter has green-eyes. and her lips move as Consuela speaks. Ultimately, the titel character transforms into Consuela, and Felipe into Llorente.

"Chac Mool" (Carlos Fuentes)

Filiberto drowns in a flood after placing a statue of a rain god in his basement.

Sketches by Boz (Charles Dickens)

Forthcoming

A Sound of Thunder (Ray Bradbury)

First published in Collier's magazine, hunting guides for Time Safari Inc Travis and Lesperance warn hunters Eckels, Billings, and Kramer about the butterfly effect, as the group discussed fascist Deutscher's presidential victory over Keith, and prepares to travel back in time to hunt a T-rex. Eckles returns to the present after crushing a butterfly, noticing the subtle changes in his world.

Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During A Tour. July 13, 1798 (William Wordsworth)

Five years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long winters! and again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs With a soft inland murmur.—Once again Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky. The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore, and view These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts, Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves 'Mid groves and copses. Once again I see These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms, Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! With some uncertain notice, as might seem Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods, Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire The Hermit sits alone. These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind With tranquil restoration:—feelings too Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, As have no slight or trivial influence On that best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered, acts Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed another gift, Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on,— Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things. If this Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft— In darkness and amid the many shapes Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world, Have hung upon the beatings of my heart— How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee! And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought, With many recognitions dim and faint, And somewhat of a sad perplexity, The picture of the mind revives again: While here I stand, not only with the sense Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts That in this moment there is life and food For future years. And so I dare to hope, Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills; when like a roe I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, Wherever nature led: more like a man Flying from something that he dreads, than one Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days And their glad animal movements all gone by) To me was all in all.—I cannot paint What then I was. The sounding cataract Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite; a feeling and a love, That had no need of a remoter charm, By thought supplied, not any interest Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes The still sad music of humanity, Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man: A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still A lover of the meadows and the woods And mountains; and of all that we behold From this green earth; of all the mighty world Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create, And what perceive; well pleased to recognise In nature and the language of the sense The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul Of all my moral being. Nor perchance, If I were not thus taught, should I the more Suffer my genial spirits to decay: For thou art with me here upon the banks Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend, My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch The language of my former heart, and read My former pleasures in the shooting lights Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while May I behold in thee what I was once, My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make, Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy: for she can so inform The mind that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life, Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk; And let the misty mountain-winds be free To blow against thee: and, in after years, When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, Thy memory be as a dwelling-place For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then, If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance— If I should be where I no more can hear Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams Of past existence—wilt thou then forget That on the banks of this delightful stream We stood together; and that I, so long A worshipper of Nature, hither came Unwearied in that service: rather say With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget, That after many wanderings, many years Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs, And this green pastoral landscape, were to me More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!

The Canonization (John Donne)

For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love, Or chide my palsy, or my gout, My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout, With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve, Take you a course, get you a place, Observe his honor, or his grace, Or the king's real, or his stampèd face Contemplate; what you will, approve, So you will let me love. Alas, alas, who's injured by my love? What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed his ground? When did my colds a forward spring remove? When did the heats which my veins fill Add one more to the plaguy bill? Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still Litigious men, which quarrels move, Though she and I do love. Call us what you will, we are made such by love; Call her one, me another fly, We're tapers too, and at our own cost die, And we in us find the eagle and the dove. The phœnix riddle hath more wit By us; we two being one, are it. So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit. We die and rise the same, and prove Mysterious by this love. We can die by it, if not live by love, And if unfit for tombs and hearse Our legend be, it will be fit for verse; And if no piece of chronicle we prove, We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms; As well a well-wrought urn becomes The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs, And by these hymns, all shall approve Us canonized for Love. And thus invoke us: "You, whom reverend love Made one another's hermitage; You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage; Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove Into the glasses of your eyes (So made such mirrors, and such spies, That they did all to you epitomize) Countries, towns, courts: beg from above A pattern of your love!"

A Dance of the Forest (Wole Soyinka)

Forest Head watches as Ogun and Eshuoro fight over the Half-Child, who is returned to the Dead Woman by Demoke, in a play beginning with The Gathering of the Tribes. The Dead Man and the Dead Woman invited by Aroni appear at that event, in a Nigerian play criticized for its western influence.

Rabbit Redux (John Updike)

Former basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom works as a Linotype operator when his wife leaves him and son Nelson for Greek Charley Stavros. Harry forms a commune out of Nelson, AFrican-American messianic heroin-addict vet Skeeter, and Connecticut teen runaway Jill. Disturbed by the commune, Harry's neighbors burn down his house, killing Jill. After Stavros survives a heart attack, Janice returns to Harry.

Rabbit at Rest (John Updike)

Former basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Armstrong has retired to Florida, has a heart-attack sunfishing with granddaughter Judy, and saves wife Janice from drowning. Given control of the Toyota dealership, Nelson funnels money out for drugs. While in the hospital, Rabbit meets Annabelle Byer, suspected to be Ruth's child, his long-term mistress Thelma Harrison dies of Lupus, and he becomes depressed over the decay of Cindy Murkett. Harry has an affair with Nelson's wife Pru, and dies of another heart attack.

Rabbit is Rich (John Updike)

Former basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Armstrong inherits a Toyota dealership. His son Nelson attends Kent State University. The book repeatedly references an anachronistic Ford Maverick.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (William Shakespeare)

Forthcoming

All's Well that Ends Well (William Shakespeare)

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Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)

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Antony and Cleopatra (William Shakespeare)

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As You Like It (William Shakespeare)

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Coriolanus (William Shakespeare)

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Cymbeline (William Shakespeare)

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Dombey and Son (Charles Dickens)

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First Folio (William Shakespeare)

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Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

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Hard Times (Charles Dickens)

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Henry IV, Parts 1, 2 (William Shakespeare)

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Henry V (William Shakespeare)

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Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, 3 (William Shakespeare)

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Henry VIII (William Shakespeare)

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Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare)

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King John (William Shakespeare)

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King Lear (William Shakespeare)

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Little Dorrit (Charles Dickens)

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Love's Labor Lost (William Shakespeare)

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Macbeth (William Shakespeare)

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Martin Chezzlewit (Charles Dickens)

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Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare)

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Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)

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Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens)

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Othello (William Shakespeare)

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Pericles (William Shakespeare)

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Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)

Four Parts "Beyond the Zero" Pirate Prentice's friend Teddy Bloat photographs a map of Lt. Tyrone Slothrop's sexual encounters, each of which precedes a V-2 rocket strike. PISCES, psychological warfare institute headquartered at former asylum "The White Visitation" which employs statistician Roger Mexico and psychologist Edward G Pointsman, experiments on Slothrop. Mexico correlates the Poisson distribution to his sexual encounters. Flashbacks reveals Katje Borgesius, who is a sex slave of Captain Blicero with Gottfried, steals a V-2 missile, and is attacked by trained octopus Grigori. "Un Perm' au Casino Hermann Goering" While at casino on French Rivera, Slothrop learns of rocket with serial code 00000, called the Schwarzgerät, 'black device'. Slothrop's predictive sexual encounters were conditioned as a child by creator of Imipolex G, Laszlo Jamf. He becomes paranoid and escapes into post-war Europe, called "The Zone" "In The Zone" Slothrop meets American Major Duane Marvy and a drug-addled Soviet intelligence colonel named Vaslav Tchitcherine, who hunts to kill brother Enzian, as well as African rocket technicians Schwarzkommando. Has relationships with Geli Tripping and Margherita Erdmann, as well as her daughter Bianca, aboard the yacht Anubis. Digression of Franz Pökler, rocket technician for the Schqarzgerat and Blicero, AKA Weissman. Slothrop disguises as Rocketman, steals hashish from Potsdam convention "The Counterforce" Slothrop finds Bianca dead and degenerates. He hallucinates sentient lightbulbs, recording music with English band "The Fool", futuristic utopia Raketen-Stadt, and 1970's cinema proprietor "Richard M. Zhlubb". The Schwarzgerätis revealed to contain a human, and ends the book as it impacts a cinema, interrupting final words "Now everybody"

The Nun's Priest's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Fox Don Russell seizes rooster Chauntecleer, as he had dreamed, but had been mocked by wife Pertelote

The Illustrated Man (Ray Bradbury)

Framed about a tattooed freak show performer, the collection of short stories is notably for The Veldt, in which Peter and Wendy Hadley lock their parents to be eaten by lions in a virtual reality simulator, and The Long Rain, about three astronauts driven insane by the precipitation on Venus.

Sons and Lovers (DH Lawrence)

Getrude Coppard, from a "good old burger family", meets Walter Morel at a Christmas dance in town Beswood, and marries him. Walter Morel slides into drinking, and Getrude, now Mrs. Morel, shifts her attentions to son William. William rises to the middle class, gets engaged to Gyp, but dies of pneumonia, and Mrs. Morel transitions her affection to her younger son Paul. Paul falls in love with farmer's daughter church-going Miriam Leivers at Willy Farm, and through her meets feminist Clara Dawes who has separated from her husband Baxter. His mother attempts to keep him away from these women. Finding his physical relationship with Miriam unsatisfying, Paul goes to Clara, but they split and he returns to his mother. Recovering from typhoid, Baxter forgives Paul for having an affair with Clara. Gertrude dies of a morphine overdose, leaving Paul alone. Others include Fanny, who works for Mr. Pappleworth, Arthur who is bought out of the army and is married to Beatrice Wyld, and pastor Mr. Heaton.

Toilers of the Sea (Victor Hugo)

Gilliat lives in a haunted house on island Guernsay as a skilled fishman, believed to be a wizard. Mess Lethierry, former sailor of ship the Durande, also lives on the island with niece Deruchette. Gilliat falls in love with Deruchette after witnessing her write his name in the snow. Durande captain Sieur Clubin plans to scuttle the ship for smuggler ship Tamaulipas. He holds up smuggler captain Rantaine at gunpoint, and mistakes Douvres Reed for Hanois reef, drowning with Lethierry's swindled fortune. Deruchette promises marriage to whoever can resue steamship Durande, and Dilliat battles an octopus to save the ship. He allows Deruchette to accept a marriage proposal from priest Ebenezer Caudry, drowning himself as he watches them sail away on the ship the Cashmere.

House of Fame (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Golden Eagle guides Chaucer through "abode of sound" the namesake temple. First usage of 'galaxy' and 'Milky Way'

Andromaque (Jean Racine)

Greek ambassador Orestes arrives at Pyrrhus's court, demanding that son of Hector and Andromaque, Astyanax, but hopes Pyrrhus will refuse so Pyrrhus's betrothed Hermione can return with Orestes. Pyrrhus tells Andromaque he will spare her son if she marries him, which she agrees to do so, planning to commit suicide after the wedding. Hermione asks Orestes to kill Pyrrhus, though she commits suicide out of the guilt, and Pyrrhus is ultimately murdered by other Greeks when he recognizes Astyanax as the true king of Rome.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)

Gypsy Esmerelda, born Agnes, is loved by Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon of Notre Dame Claude Frollo. Frollo saids Quasimodo to kidnap Esmerelda. He knocks out Gringoire before being arrested by Phoebus, and Esmerelda agrees to marry Gringoire for four years to save him from being hanged by beggars. During his pillory, Esmerelda brings Quasimodo water, and she is arrested for attempted murder of Phoebus, who was actually attacked by a jealous Frollo. Led to teh gallows, Quasimodo swings down on a rope and rescues her. Frollo and Gringoire rescue her from the cathedral after Parliement revokes her right to sanctuary, and depite the efforts of gypsy Clopin, Frollo betrays her to the King's men and she is hanged. Quasimodo kills Frolllo and dies.

To a Skylark (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of Heaven, In the broad day-light Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight, Keen as are the arrows Of that silver sphere, Whose intense lamp narrows In the white dawn clear Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there. All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when night is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflow'd. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Like a Poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not: Like a high-born maiden In a palace-tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower: Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its a{:e}real hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view: Like a rose embower'd In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflower'd, Till the scent it gives Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-winged thieves: Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-awaken'd flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass. Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. Chorus Hymeneal, Or triumphal chant, Match'd with thine would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain? What fields, or waves, or mountains? What shapes of sky or plain? What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain? With thy clear keen joyance Languor cannot be: Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee: Thou lovest: but ne'er knew love's sad satiety. Waking or asleep, Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep Than we mortals dream, Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream? We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Yet if we could scorn Hate, and pride, and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground! Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow The world should listen then, as I am listening now.

The Miser (Moliere)

Harpagon, a miserly rich man, is attended by servant La Fleche. He plans to marry Mariane, who his son Cleante loves, and matches his daughter Elise, who loves Valere, with Seigneur Anselme. Maitre Simon organizes a money loan to Cleante, and Master Jacques adjudicates between Herpagon and son Cleante over their shared love of Mariane. La Fleche steals Harpagon's buried gold, and Valere is suspected of the crime, though he reveals himself to be Dom Thomas d'Alburcy from Naples. Cleante and Valere marry Mariane and Elisa respectively.

Rabbit, Run (John Updike)

Harry "Rabbit" Armstrong, former high school basketball star, sells kitchen gadget the MagiPeeler, is married to Janice, and lives in Mount Judge, a suburb of Brewer, Pennsylvania, with two-year-old son Nelson. Trying to escape, Harry has dinner with high school basketball coach Marty Totherto, where he meets and begins an affair with Ruth Leonard. Janice moves back with her parents and Episcopal priest Jack Eccles befriends Harry to convince him to stop the affair, only for Harry to break things off when Ruth sleeps with high school rival Ronnie Harrison. Harry back, Janice has a child named Rebecca June. Harry rejects a sexual advance from the minister's wife Lucy, disguised as coffee, but later tries to find Ruth after Janice rejects him. Janice drunkenly drowns Rebecca June, and Ruth reveals she's pregnant.

The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Harry Bailey sponsors Tabard Inn storytelling contest. Features tales by Prioress, Monk, Friar, Knight, Sir Thopas, Melibee, Miller, Man of Law, Wife of Bath, Physician, Pardoner, Nun's Priest, Parson, Reeve, Manciple, Merchant, Second Nun, Shipman, Squire, Canon's Yeoman, Clerk, Roger the Cook, Franklin, as well as a Prologue.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

Hartford resident Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious by crusher Hercule, time-traveling back to Camelot where he is apprehended by Sir Kay. Sentenced to be burned by Merlin, Hank uses a solar eclipse to become an adviser to King Arthur, called "The Boss." Hank uses a lightning rod to detonate Merlin's tower, accepts a duel challenge from Sir Sagramore, meets Morgan le Fay while helping Sandy, and rids a leaking fountain of the demon "BGWJJILLIGKKK". Using the 19th century infrastructure he has created, Hank wars against the knights, names his son by Sandy Hello-central, challenges the chuch's interdict with the help of Clarence by building a cave, is stabbed by Sir Meliagraunce, and curse by Merlin to sleep for 1,300 years.

Ghosts (Henrik Ibsen)

Helene Alving builds an orphanage to deplete the funds of dead philandering husband Captain Alving. Her son Oswald inherited syphilis from the captain, and loves maid Regina, who was secretly also fathered by the captain. Jacob Engstrand, who believes himself to be Regina's father, desires to build a hostel for seafarers after finishing the orphanage. He holds a prayer service with Pastor Manders, during which the orphanage burns down. The orphanage does not have insurance due to a faith in divine providence. In the end, Oswald succumbs to syphilis, and Mrs. Alving must decide whether to euthanize him with morphine in accordance with his wishes.

Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)

Henry Dashwood inherits money, and it is given to son John Dashwood. Persuaded by wife Fanny to mind son Harry, John excludes money from Henry's second wife and children Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. After John moves into Norland, Fanny's brother Edward Ferrars meets Elinor, and Mrs. Dashwood moves into Barton College near cousin Sir John Middleton. Neighbors are Lady Middleton, Mrs. Jennings, and Colonel Brandon. Marianne doesn't reciprocate Brandon's interest. John Willoughby helps Marianne home after she injures her ankle, but their relationship is ended after Willoughby leaves for London. After Edward visits Barton, Anne and Lucy Steele visit, cousins of Mrs. Jennings, where Lucy tells Elinor of her secret engagement to Edward. In London, Willoughby is engaged to Miss Grey, when Brandon says Willoughby has been disinherited for impregnating Brandon's ward Eliza Williams. Edward is disinherited for brother Robert, and Elinor and Marianne visit Mrs. Jennings's daughter Charlotte Palmer at estate Cleveland. Willoughby leaves Gray and slanders Miss Williams, but Elinor marries Edward, Lucy marries Robert, and Marianne marries Brandon.

The Red Badge of Courage (Stephen Crane)

Henry Fleming deserts 304th New York Regiment, sees a soldier dead in a field, and returns to talk to the Tattered Man and find friend Jim Conkling dead. Deserting again, he is struck on the head by a fleeing Union troop. Henry discovers the regiment's leader is a bad commander who describes his men as "mule drives" and "mud diggers". Flag-bearer on a suicide mission, Henry leads the regiment to victory against a hidden southern squad, capturing four troops.

Telling the Bees (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Here is the place; right over the hill Runs the path I took; You can see the gap in the old wall still, And the stepping-stones in the shallow brook. There is the house, with the gate red-barred, And the poplars tall; And the barn's brown length, and the cattle-yard, And the white horns tossing above the wall. There are the beehives ranged in the sun; And down by the brink Of the brook are her poor flowers, weed-o'errun, Pansy and daffodil, rose and pink. A year has gone, as the tortoise goes, Heavy and slow; And the same rose blows, and the same sun glows, And the same brook sings of a year ago. There 's the same sweet clover-smell in the breeze; And the June sun warm Tangles his wings of fire in the trees, Setting, as then, over Fernside farm. I mind me how with a lover's care From my Sunday coat I brushed off the burrs, and smoothed my hair, And cooled at the brookside my brow and throat. Since we parted, a month had passed,— To love, a year; Down through the beeches I looked at last On the little red gate and the well-sweep near. I can see it all now,—the slantwise rain Of light through the leaves, The sundown's blaze on her window-pane, The bloom of her roses under the eaves. Just the same as a month before,— The house and the trees, The barn's brown gable, the vine by the door,— Nothing changed but the hives of bees. Before them, under the garden wall, Forward and back, Went drearily singing the chore-girl small, Draping each hive with a shred of black. Trembling, I listened: the summer sun Had the chill of snow; For I knew she was telling the bees of one Gone on the journey we all must go! Then I said to myself, "My Mary weeps For the dead to-day: Haply her blind old grandsire sleeps The fret and the pain of his age away." But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill, With his cane to his chin, The old man sat; and the chore-girl still Sung to the bees stealing out and in. And the song she was singing ever since In my ear sounds on:— "Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence! Mistress Mary is dead and gone!"

Phedre (Jean Racine)

Hippolytus tells tutor Theramenes that he plans to leave court in Troezen to search for his missing father Theseus and to escape his forbidden love for hostage Aricia. Theseus's wife Phedre admits illicit love for step-son Hippolytus to old nurse Oenone, who, after the announced death of Theseus, encourages a union. Aricia reveals to Ismene her love for Hippolytus, and Theseus returns unharmed. Granted free reign by Phedre, Oenone tells Theseus that Hippolytus attempted to take Phedre by force, and Theseus invokes Neptune to kill Hippolytus. Phedre rebukes Oenone as a monster, who drowns herself, and confesses to Theseus Hippolytus's innocence after he is slain by a sea monster. Immediately after. Phedre succumbs to a draught of Medean poison.

The Man Who Laughs (Victor Hugo)

His face mutated into a rictus, Gwynplaine rescues baby Dea from a snowstorm and is taken in by circus master Ursus and pet wolf Homo. Ducchess Josiana is introduced to Gwynplaine by fiance David Dirry-Moir. Tortured physician Hardquannone reveals Gwynplaine's real name is Fermain, and he is the son of Lord Linnaeus Clancharlie, Marquis of Corleone, intentionally disfigured as a child by the Comprachicos, a group of bandits. Gwynplaine is elevated to a Lord, but abandons his status to find Dea. He reunites with them on a ship, only for her to die. Dea's body and Gwynplaine jump overboard.

Chicago (Carl Sandburg)

Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders: They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again. And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger. And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities; Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness, Bareheaded, Shoveling, Wrecking, Planning, Building, breaking, rebuilding, Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth, Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs, Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle, Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing! Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote)

Holly Golightly befriends the unnamed Manhattan narrator because he reminds her of her brother Fred. She dislikes Mag Wildwood, suspects Rusty Trawler of being homosexual, and earns money by visiting gangster Sally Tomato in Sing Sing prison. Holly is impregnated by Brazilian diplomat José Ybarra-Jaegar, although she miscarries the baby while riding horses in Central Park. Others include film producer O.J. Berman, photographer Mr. I. Y. Yunioshi, bar owner Joe Bell, and Madame Sapphia Spanella.

The Rocking-Horse Winner (DH Lawrence)

Housewife Hester is broke, and her daughters and son Paul can hear the house whispering "There must be money". Paul rides on his rocking horse for hours at a time until he reaches a clairvoyant state where he can predict the horse winners. He works with uncle Oscar Creswell and gardener Bassett to bet money. Paul goes too far and gets sick and dies, shouting "Malabar", the name of a 14/1 odds horse who will win.

Orpheus Descending (Tennessee Williams)

Housewives Dolly and Beulah gossip about sick Jabe Torrence, and Carol Cutrere flirts with roaming musician Val. Lady hires Val as a clerk at the general store, where he tells David that Carol aborted his child. Vee and Val discuss painting, and Vee's husband Talbot grows angry when he sees Val kiss her hand. Jabe reveals he caused the death of Lady's husband, and Carol is blinded by the virtue of Christ. Val and Lady prepare to leave town together, when the store is set on fire, Jabe shoots Lady, and Sheriff Talbot pushes Val into the fire, killing him. Carol trades a gold ring for Val's burnt snakeskin jacket, soliloquizing on the "fugitive kind".

The Imaginary Invalid (Moliere)

Hypochondriac Argan organizes the marriage of his daughter Angelique to doctor Thomas Diafoirus so that he may receive free medical care. Angelique, with the approval of servant Toinette, wants to marry Cléante. Argan's lawyer brother Beralde believes the marriage is engineered by Argan's second wife Beline to ensure her inheritance. After spurning Mr. Purgon and Mr. Fleurant, Argan plays dead to discover Beline's greed and Angelique's true love. Others include Argan's young daughter Louison. Moliere died while playing Argan in a performance of this play.

The Charge of the Light Brigade (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

I Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. II "Forward, the Light Brigade!" Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. III Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred. IV Flashed all their sabres bare, Flashed as they turned in air Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army, while All the world wondered. Plunged in the battery-smoke Right through the line they broke; Cossack and Russian Reeled from the sabre stroke Shattered and sundered. Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred. V Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell. They that had fought so well Came through the jaws of Death, Back from the mouth of hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred. VI When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!

Ode to the West Wind (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

I O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear! II Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion, Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thine aëry surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith's height, The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Vaulted with all thy congregated might Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear! III Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lull'd by the coil of his crystalline streams, Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay, And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave's intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic's level powers Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean, know Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear! IV If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. V Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Lady Lazarus (Sylvia Plath)

I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it— A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen. Peel off the napkin O my enemy. Do I terrify?— The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth? The sour breath Will vanish in a day. Soon, soon the flesh The grave cave ate will be At home on me And I a smiling woman. I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die. This is Number Three. What a trash To annihilate each decade. What a million filaments. The peanut-crunching crowd Shoves in to see Them unwrap me hand and foot— The big strip tease. Gentlemen, ladies These are my hands My knees. I may be skin and bone, Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman. The first time it happened I was ten. It was an accident. The second time I meant To last it out and not come back at all. I rocked shut As a seashell. They had to call and call And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls. Dying Is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call. It's easy enough to do it in a cell. It's easy enough to do it and stay put. It's the theatrical Comeback in broad day To the same place, the same face, the same brute Amused shout: 'A miracle!' That knocks me out. There is a charge For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge For the hearing of my heart— It really goes. And there is a charge, a very large charge For a word or a touch Or a bit of blood Or a piece of my hair or my clothes. So, so, Herr Doktor. So, Herr Enemy. I am your opus, I am your valuable, The pure gold baby That melts to a shriek. I turn and burn. Do not think I underestimate your great concern. Ash, ash— You poke and stir. Flesh, bone, there is nothing there-- A cake of soap, A wedding ring, A gold filling. Herr God, Herr Lucifer Beware Beware. Out of the ash I rise with my red hair And I eat men like air.

Easter 1916 (William Butler Yeats)

I have met them at close of day Coming with vivid faces From counter or desk among grey Eighteenth-century houses. I have passed with a nod of the head Or polite meaningless words, Or have lingered awhile and said Polite meaningless words, And thought before I had done Of a mocking tale or a gibe To please a companion Around the fire at the club, Being certain that they and I But lived where motley is worn: All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. That woman's days were spent In ignorant good-will, Her nights in argument Until her voice grew shrill. What voice more sweet than hers When, young and beautiful, She rode to harriers? This man had kept a school And rode our wingèd horse; This other his helper and friend Was coming into his force; He might have won fame in the end, So sensitive his nature seemed, So daring and sweet his thought. This other man I had dreamed A drunken, vainglorious lout. He had done most bitter wrong To some who are near my heart, Yet I number him in the song; He, too, has resigned his part In the casual comedy; He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. Hearts with one purpose alone Through summer and winter seem Enchanted to a stone To trouble the living stream. The horse that comes from the road, The rider, the birds that range From cloud to tumbling cloud, Minute by minute they change; A shadow of cloud on the stream Changes minute by minute; A horse-hoof slides on the brim, And a horse plashes within it; The long-legged moor-hens dive, And hens to moor-cocks call; Minute by minute they live: The stone's in the midst of all. Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. O when may it suffice? That is Heaven's part, our part To murmur name upon name, As a mother names her child When sleep at last has come On limbs that had run wild. What is it but nightfall? No, no, not night but death; Was it needless death after all? For England may keep faith For all that is done and said. We know their dream; enough To know they dreamed and are dead; And what if excess of love Bewildered them till they died? I write it out in a verse— MacDonagh and MacBride And Connolly and Pearse Now and in time to be, Wherever green is worn, Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.

I heard a fly buzz when I died (Emily Dickinson)

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air - Between the Heaves of Storm - The Eyes around - had wrung them dry - And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset - when the King Be witnessed - in the Room - I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away What portion of me be Assignable - and then it was There interposed a Fly - With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz - Between the light - and me - And then the Windows failed - and then I could not see to see -

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death (William Butler Yeats)

I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death.

Ozymandius (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."

The Colossus (Sylvia Plath)

I shall never get you put together entirely, Pieced, glued, and properly jointed. Mule-bray, pig-grunt and bawdy cackles Proceed from your great lips. It's worse than a barnyard. Perhaps you consider yourself an oracle, Mouthpiece of the dead, or of some god or other. Thirty years now I have labored To dredge the silt from your throat. I am none the wiser. Scaling little ladders with glue pots and pails of lysol I crawl like an ant in mourning Over the weedy acres of your brow To mend the immense skull plates and clear The bald, white tumuli of your eyes. A blue sky out of the Oresteia Arches above us. O father, all by yourself You are pithy and historical as the Roman Forum. I open my lunch on a hill of black cypress. Your fluted bones and acanthine hair are littered In their old anarchy to the horizon-line. It would take more than a lightning-stroke To create such a ruin. Nights, I squat in the cornucopia Of your left ear, out of the wind, Counting the red stars and those of plum-color. The sun rises under the pillar of your tongue. My hours are married to shadow. No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel On the blank stones of the landing.

I taste a liquor never brewed (Emily Dickinson)

I taste a liquor never brewed - From Tankards scooped in Pearl - Not all the Frankfort Berries Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of air - am I - And Debauchee of Dew - Reeling - thro' endless summer days - From inns of molten Blue - When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee Out of the Foxglove's door - When Butterflies - renounce their "drams" - I shall but drink the more! Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats - And Saints - to windows run - To see the little Tippler Leaning against the - Sun!

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud (Daffodils) (William Wordsworth)

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree (William Butler Yeats)

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core.

I'm Nobody! Who are you? (Emily Dickinson)

I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you - Nobody - too? Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know! How dreary - to be - Somebody! How public - like a Frog - To tell one's name - the livelong June - To an admiring Bog!

The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Langston Hughes)

I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I, Too (Langston Hughes)

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed—

The Night of the Iguana (Tennessee Williams)

In 1940s Mexico, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon is removed from his church for calling the western God a "senile delinquent", institutionalized, and works as a tour guide, where he is accused of raping 16-year-old Charlotte Goodall. Shannon takes tour group to a coastal Mexican hotel run by Maxine Faulk and recently deceased husband Fred. Travelling painter Hannah Jelkes and grandfather Nonno arrive at the inn. The play focuses on the bond between Jelkes and Shannon. Others include German tourists who sing Nazi songs and vocal teacher Judith Fellowes. Shannon is inspired by Reverend Sydney Lanier.

The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)

In Lorain, Ohio, nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry, and foster child Pecola Breedlove. Pecola has an inferiority complex due to her perceived ugliness and desires blue eyes, because of the white blue-eyed dolls she received as a child. Pecola's parents are Cholly and Pauline, and Cholly rapes her twice as a child, impregnating her. Claudia and Frieda give up money for a bicycle to plant marigolds, believing if they bloom Pecola's baby will live, but they don't bloom and the baby dies.

The Plumed Serpent (DH Lawrence)

In Mexican Revolution Mexico, tourist Kate Leslie watches a bullfight in Mexico City before meeting general Don Cipriano, and intellectual landowner Don Ramon. In small lakeside town Sayula, Ramon and Cipriano start a cult of pre-Christian religion.

Pudd'nhead Wilson (Mark Twain)

In Missouri town Dawson's Landing, David Wilson practices law and collects fingerprints. Slave Roxy switches her 1/32 black son Valet de Chambr with the white Tom Driscoll. Valet, now Tom, is blackmailed by Roxy, kills his uncle and blames it on an Italian, and is ultimately sold downriver.

The Minister's Wooing (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

In Newport, Rhode Island, 40-year-old Dr. Hopkins loves Mary, but Mary loves lost-at-sea sailor James Marvyn. Another suitor for her is Aaron Burr, grandson of Johnathan Edward, Calvinist, but still evil. Marvyn returns and Hopkins calls off the wedding, leaving him and Mary to marry.

The Blue Hotel (Stephen Crane)

In Palace Hotel, painted blue, is run by proprietor Scully, who meets "The Swede" at a train station. "The Swede", "The Easterner", and a cowboy stay at the hotel, but The Swede thinks everyone is trying to kill him, including Scully's son Johnny. The Swede catches Johnny cheating at High-Five and beats him in a fight, before being stabbed at a saloon by a gambler and dying.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

In St. Petersburg, Missouri, modeled after Hannibal, Missouri, the title character sneaks past Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, and is kidnapped by drunken father Pap, who he escapes by smearing pig's blood on a wall and pretending to be murdered. He is exposed as not being a girl by Judith Loftus, after throwing a baseball and failing to sew, rafts with runaway slave Jim, and witnesses the deaths of Buck and the Grangerfords at the hands of the Shepherdsons. The title character joins the Duke of Bridgewater and the Lost Dauphin, disguising Jim as the Sick Arab, and they perform the ludicrous play The Royal Nonesuch, before skipping town after Colonel Sherburn kills drunk Boggs. The two swindlers pretend to be brothers of deceased Peter Wilks, are exposed when they fail to describe a tattoo on him, and the the title character hides the money in his coffin. Tom Sawyer and the title character free Jim from the plantation of Silas and Sally Phelps.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)

In glen Sleepy Hollow of Tarrytown, schoolteacher Ichabod Crane pines after Katrina van Tassel, who loves Brom Bones. Riding hoem, Ichabod meets the Headless Horseman, the supposed ghost of Major Andre.

Anthills of the Savannah (Chinua Achebe)

In imaginary African country Kangan, Sandhurst-trained officer Sam becomes "His Excellency" after a coup. The political situation is described through three characters: Chris Oriko, the government's Commissioner for information; Beatrice Okoh, Chris's girlfriend and an official in the Ministry of Finance; and Ikem Osodi, a newspaper editor who criticizes the regime. Others are Ikem's girlfriend Elewa, Major "Samsonite" Ossai who was a military officer notorious for stapling hands with a Samsonite stapler. Ikem is assassinated, Sam is toppled, and Chris is murdered. The novel concludes with a naming ceremony of Elewa and Ikem's daughter, Beatrice.

Lysistrata (Aristophanes)

In order to end the Peloponnesian War, Athenian woman Lysistrata works in conjunction with Spartan Lampito and friend Calonice to abstain from sex by hiding in the Acropolis. The Chorus of Old Men fights with the Chorus of Old Women, who douse them in water, and Scythian archers are overwhelmed by a force of women with names like seed-market-porridge-vegetable-sellers and garlic-innkeeping-bread-sellers. Kinesias tries to convince his wife Myrrhine to have sex with him, but she denies. Eventually the Athenians and Spartans meet the beautiful woman Reconciliation and end the war.

Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving)

In the Catskill Mountains before the Revolutionary War, the title character escapes his Dame wife with dog Wolf. He meets the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew and plays nine-pins with them. Drinking their jenever, he falls asleep until after the Revolutionary War, when he proclaims himself a faithful subject of King George III. He meets his son and learns of his dead wife, and lingers in the tavern where the king's portrait has been replaced with George Washington.

Suddenly, Last Summer (Tennessee Williams)

In the Garden District of New Orleans, Mrs. Venable speaks to a doctor of her poet son Sebastian's mysterious death last summer in Spain, as well as urging the doctor to lobotomize niece Catharine. The doctor injects Catharine with a truth serum, and she tells Mrs. Venable about Sebastian's dissolution, his homosexuality, and his death, cannibalized by swarms of starving Spanish children. Venable refuses to believe the stories, although the doctor acknowledges they are probably true.

The Witches of Eastwick (John Updike)

In the title fictional Rhode Island town, Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougemont each gain the powers. They are upset by the arrival of Daryl Van Horne, but he encourages their powers to the point where they accidentally bewitch those around them. Sukie's boss Clyde Gabriel murders his wife Felicia before committing suicide. Their peace with Daryl ends after he seduces Jenny, and in attempting to give him cancer, they kill Jenny and drive him from the town with brother Chris, before each summons their ideal partner and leaves.

The Squire's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Indian knight brings gifts on birthday of Tartar king Cambuscan; Cambuscan's daughter Canace talks with brothers Algarsyf and Cambalo and wears ring that lets her talk to a falcon

In the First Circle (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

Innokentii Volodinl, a zek diplomat, makes a call his conscience mandates. Lev Rubin, NKVD representative, is tasked with tracking down the caller in a technical, intellectual prison camp. Other characters include Gleb Nerzhin, and Dimitri Sologdin.

The Monk's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Inspired by Boccaccio's "On the Fates of Famous Men", Monk recounts 17 8-line tragedies about Bernabo of Milan, Ugolino, Pedro of Spain, Pedro of Cyprus, Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Heracles, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Zonobia, Nero, Holofernes, Antiochus, Alexander, Caesar, and Croesus

Faust (Goethe)

Inspired by George Bidermann's The Legend of the Doctor of Paris, Mephistopheles attempts to corrupt God's favorite humna, the knowledge-striving protagonist who turns to magic to learn, contemplating suicide before going to Easter celebration with assistant Wagner. A poodle transforms into Mephistopheles, and the protagonist signs a contract with his own blood. He loves Gretchen, who murders her mother and drowns her illegitimate child in a bathtub, condemned to death. The protagonist is called out by her brother Valentin.

Locksley Hall (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Inspired by Sir William Jones's prose translation of the Arabic Mu'allaqat, 97 rhyming couplets monologue about the unnamed protagonist and his return to a childhood home.

Prometheus Unbound (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Inspired by a tragedy by Aeschylus, Prometheus is chained to a rock by Jupiter, accompanied by the Oceanides, Panthea, and Ione. Prometheus calls on Earth, the mother, to curse Jupiter with the supreme being of the shadow realm, the demogorgon. Asia converses with Earth during an apocalyptic event, after the demogorgon overthrows Jupiter and refuses to identify God.

The Invisible Man (HG Wells)

Invisible Griffin convinces tramp Thomas Marvel to assist him, encourages Dr. Kemp of Port Burdock to join in his "Reign of Terror", steals theatrical clothing from Iping, and causes speculation when he brings test tubes to the Coach and Horses Inn, owned by Janny and George Hall.

The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)

Iris Chase Griffen, married to Richard Griffen, writes a novel about Alex Thomas who she attributes to Laura Chase, who commits suicide. Living in Avilion, Laura flees with daughter Aimee after learning that Richard had been raping Laura. The title comes from a novel Alex writes within Iris's novel.

Ulysses (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honour'd of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains: but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,— Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil This labour, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine. There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me— That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old; Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is sentenced to ten years as a zek, or prisoner, in a gulag after being captured briefly in WW2 and accused as a spy. A member of Gang 104, Shukhov respects gang leader Tiurin and receives food for menial tasks from film director Caesar. Other characters include Alyosha, a Baptist who hides a Bible in his barracks, Fetyukov, who scrounges for cigarette butts, "The Captain" Buinovsky, a Soviet navy captain who is thrown in the hole, and hard-working Latvian Kilgas.

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky (Stephen Crane)

Jack Potter is the Marshall of Yellow Sky, where he travels with his bride. Scratchy Wilson enters the Weary Gentlemen saloon drunk, notorious for being an ace shot. Scratchy wants to shoot Jake, believing he has a gun, but Jake says he does not and that he has just been married in San Antonio. Scratchy's rage breaks and he leaves.

Long Day's Journey into Night (Eugene O'Neill

James Tyrone Sr. and Mary Tyrone live at the Monte Christo cottage in Connecticut with sons Jamie and Edmund. James is an actor who ruined his career by taking a vehicle part. Mary is addicted to morphine and talks with Cathleen. Jamie is an alcoholic who tries to break into the whiskey cabinet. Edmund is diagnosed with tuberculosis by Dr. Hardy

John Bull's Other Island (George Bernard Shaw)

Land Development Syndicate employee Tom Broadbent gives Matt Haffigan's pig a ride in his motorcar to publicize bid for Irish Parliament seat. He seeks to marry Nora Reilly, who had been waiting for Larry Doyle. Other characters include defrocked priest Peter Keegan

Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)

Janie Crawford recalls her life to Phoeby Watson. Comparing her sexual awakening as a teenager to a pear blossom in string, she kissing Johnny Taylor while her grandmother, Nanny, witnesses. Nanny had been raped as a slave, giving birth to Leafy. Leafy was raped by a schoolteacher, giving birth to Janie before leaving. Looking to break the cycle, Nanny arranges for Janie to marry older farmer Logan Killicks. Nanny dead and disappointed with her loveless marriage, Janie leaves for Eatonville Florida with Jody (Joe) Stark. After getting elected, Joe wants Janie as property, and he dies of a failing kidney. Janie grows to love drifter Vergible Woods, called "Tea Cake". Moving to 'the muck', the Everglades, they have an up-and-down marriage, including one incident where Tea Cake whips Janie. Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog saving Janie from drowning in the great Okeechobee hurricane. He grows increasingly jealous with the disease, shooting at Janie, and she kills him as self-defense before being acquitted and returning to Eatonville.

The Merchant's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

January ignores Justinus's criticism of marriage and sides with sycophantic Placebo to get married. He marries May, builds a walled garden, and is smited by the gods. May has an affair with Damyan in a pear tree. Pluto returns January's sight, but Proserpina gives May the ability to talk her way out of the situation. She continues to have affairs.

Saint Joan (George Bernard Shaw)

Joan leaves house of Robert Baudricourt, when the hens don't lay eggs, and appoints the Dauphin to Charles VII, under the direction of God. Dunois helps her win the Siege of Orleans, as well as counsels her with Bluebeard and Captain La Hire. Bishop of Beauvais and John de Stogumber pull for her execution.

All My Sons (Arthur Miller)

Joe Keller and wife Kate ask neighbor Frank Lubey to find horoscope for their MIA son Larry Keller, who they believe is alive. Brother Chris believes Larry is dead, and wants to marry Larry's girlfriend Ann Deever, whose father Steve Deever was Joe's business partner before going to prison for selling cracked cylinder heads that caused the death of 21 Air Force pilots. Neighbors Sue and Jim Bayliss confirms that everyone believes Joe guilty, and George Deever, Steve's son, says that Joe was complicit in the error. Chris leaves his family, and Kate forces Joe to confess. Chris tells Joe "I know you're no worse than other men, but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man...I saw you as my father.", and reveals that his brother Larry planned to commit suicide. Learning this, Joe turns himself.

Barnaby Rudge (Charles Dickens)

John Chester and Geoffrey Haredale oppose the union of children Edward and Emma. Simpleton Barnaby, his raven Grip, and mother accidentally join the Gordon Riots. Hugh and Dennis capture Emma and Dolly Varden, while Barnaby is captured at Newgate. Dennis and Hugh are hanged while Barnaby is pardoned. American Revolution veteran Joe Willet marries Dolly, and Edward marries Emma. Others include Simon Tappertit, Miggs, and Lord George Gordon.

Go Tell It on the Mountains (James Baldwin

John Grimes is raised by the abusive deacon Gabriel in Harlem, who fathers Royal in an affair. Grimes undergoes a religious conversion on his fourteenth birthday.

A Diamond As Big As The Ritz (F Scott Fitzgerald)

John T. Unger befriends Percy Washington, who takes him to the title object in Montana. Percy's grandfather Fitz-Norman Culpepper Washington hides the diamonds and still uses slaves. Sister Kismine reveals that John will be killed if he leaves. When an airplane attacks, John, Kismine and Jasmine escape while Percy and his mother detonate the mountain of diamond.

The Physician's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Judge Appius desires Virginia, and conspires with Claudius to arraign father Virginius on false charges. Virginius kills Virginia and is sentenced to death, but the people revolt and the judge commits suicide.

Everything that Rises Must Converge (Flannery O'Connor)

Julian, a college-educated typewriter salesman, takes his mother to weight-loss classes at the YMCA. She wears a large purple and green hat, fondly remembers her black nurse Caroline, and rides the bus with Julian to the class. Four-year old black Carver and his mother enter bus. After disembarking, Julian's mother tries to give Carver a penny, but his mother punches her, and Julian's mother collapses in his arms.

Hernani (Victor Hugo)

King of Spain Don Carlos sneaks into bedroom of Doña Sol, when he sees her plot to flee with bandit Hernani rather than marry Don Ruy Gomez de Silva. Don Carlos intercepts their meeting place, and Hernani explains his hatred for Don Carlos's king father, who executed Hernani's father. Ruy Gomez protects Hernani under the rules of hospitality, and they agree to overthrow King Don Carlos. Ruy Gomez receives a horn from Hernani that, upon its sounding, will signal Hernani's suicide. Emperor Maximilian dies, and King Don Carlos is elected in his place, pardoning Hernani and Ruy Gomez. Hernani is revealed to be John of Aragon, and he marries Dona Sol, when the horn sounds. They have a double suicide, and Ruy Gomez kills himself in response.

Ballad of the Landlord (Langston Hughes)

Landlord, landlord, My roof has sprung a leak. Don't you 'member I told you about it Way last week? Landlord, landlord, These steps is broken down. When you come up yourself It's a wonder you don't fall down. Ten Bucks you say I owe you? Ten Bucks you say is due? Well, that's Ten Bucks more'n I'l pay you Till you fix this house up new. What? You gonna get eviction orders? You gonna cut off my heat? You gonna take my furniture and Throw it in the street? Um-huh! You talking high and mighty. Talk on-till you get through. You ain't gonna be able to say a word If I land my fist on you. Police! Police! Come and get this man! He's trying to ruin the government And overturn the land! Copper's whistle! Patrol bell! Arrest. Precinct Station. Iron cell. Headlines in press: MAN THREATENS LANDLORD TENANT HELD NO BAIL JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL!

Inherent Vice (Thomas Pynchon)

Larry "Doc" Sportello, private eye, is asked by ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth to stop current lover real estate developer Michael Z. "Mickey" Wolfmann from being institutionalized by wife Sloane and her lover, Riggs Warbling. Doc travels to the lost continent of Lemuria from the fictional California town of Gordita Beach.

Dejection: An Ode (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Late, late yestreen I saw the new Moon, With the old Moon in her arms; And I fear, I fear, my Master dear! We shall have a deadly storm. (Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence) I Well! If the Bard was weather-wise, who made The grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spence, This night, so tranquil now, will not go hence Unroused by winds, that ply a busier trade Than those which mould yon cloud in lazy flakes, Or the dull sobbing draft, that moans and rakes Upon the strings of this Æolian lute, Which better far were mute. For lo! the New-moon winter-bright! And overspread with phantom light, (With swimming phantom light o'erspread But rimmed and circled by a silver thread) I see the old Moon in her lap, foretelling The coming-on of rain and squally blast. And oh! that even now the gust were swelling, And the slant night-shower driving loud and fast! Those sounds which oft have raised me, whilst they awed, And sent my soul abroad, Might now perhaps their wonted impulse give, Might startle this dull pain, and make it move and live! II A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear, A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief, Which finds no natural outlet, no relief, In word, or sigh, or tear— O Lady! in this wan and heartless mood, To other thoughts by yonder throstle woo'd, All this long eve, so balmy and serene, Have I been gazing on the western sky, And its peculiar tint of yellow green: And still I gaze—and with how blank an eye! And those thin clouds above, in flakes and bars, That give away their motion to the stars; Those stars, that glide behind them or between, Now sparkling, now bedimmed, but always seen: Yon crescent Moon, as fixed as if it grew In its own cloudless, starless lake of blue; I see them all so excellently fair, I see, not feel, how beautiful they are! III My genial spirits fail; And what can these avail To lift the smothering weight from off my breast? It were a vain endeavour, Though I should gaze for ever On that green light that lingers in the west: I may not hope from outward forms to win The passion and the life, whose fountains are within. IV O Lady! we receive but what we give, And in our life alone does Nature live: Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud! And would we aught behold, of higher worth, Than that inanimate cold world allowed To the poor loveless ever-anxious crowd, Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud Enveloping the Earth— And from the soul itself must there be sent A sweet and potent voice, of its own birth, Of all sweet sounds the life and element! V O pure of heart! thou need'st not ask of me What this strong music in the soul may be! What, and wherein it doth exist, This light, this glory, this fair luminous mist, This beautiful and beauty-making power. Joy, virtuous Lady! Joy that ne'er was given, Save to the pure, and in their purest hour, Life, and Life's effluence, cloud at once and shower, Joy, Lady! is the spirit and the power, Which wedding Nature to us gives in dower A new Earth and new Heaven, Undreamt of by the sensual and the proud— Joy is the sweet voice, Joy the luminous cloud— We in ourselves rejoice! And thence flows all that charms or ear or sight, All melodies the echoes of that voice, All colours a suffusion from that light. VI There was a time when, though my path was rough, This joy within me dallied with distress, And all misfortunes were but as the stuff Whence Fancy made me dreams of happiness: For hope grew round me, like the twining vine, And fruits, and foliage, not my own, seemed mine. But now afflictions bow me down to earth: Nor care I that they rob me of my mirth; But oh! each visitation Suspends what nature gave me at my birth, My shaping spirit of Imagination. For not to think of what I needs must feel, But to be still and patient, all I can; And haply by abstruse research to steal From my own nature all the natural man— This was my sole resource, my only plan: Till that which suits a part infects the whole, And now is almost grown the habit of my soul. VII Hence, viper thoughts, that coil around my mind, Reality's dark dream! I turn from you, and listen to the wind, Which long has raved unnoticed. What a scream Of agony by torture lengthened out That lute sent forth! Thou Wind, that rav'st without, Bare crag, or mountain-tairn, or blasted tree, Or pine-grove whither woodman never clomb, Or lonely house, long held the witches' home, Methinks were fitter instruments for thee, Mad Lutanist! who in this month of showers, Of dark-brown gardens, and of peeping flowers, Mak'st Devils' yule, with worse than wintry song, The blossoms, buds, and timorous leaves among. Thou Actor, perfect in all tragic sounds! Thou mighty Poet, e'en to frenzy bold! What tell'st thou now about? 'Tis of the rushing of an host in rout, With groans, of trampled men, with smarting wounds— At once they groan with pain, and shudder with the cold! But hush! there is a pause of deepest silence! And all that noise, as of a rushing crowd, With groans, and tremulous shudderings—all is over— It tells another tale, with sounds less deep and loud! A tale of less affright, And tempered with delight, As Otway's self had framed the tender lay,— 'Tis of a little child Upon a lonesome wild, Nor far from home, but she hath lost her way: And now moans low in bitter grief and fear, And now screams loud, and hopes to make her mother hear. VIII 'Tis midnight, but small thoughts have I of sleep: Full seldom may my friend such vigils keep! Visit her, gentle Sleep! with wings of healing, And may this storm be but a mountain-birth, May all the stars hang bright above her dwelling, Silent as though they watched the sleeping Earth! With light heart may she rise, Gay fancy, cheerful eyes, Joy lift her spirit, joy attune her voice; To her may all things live, from pole to pole, Their life the eddying of her living soul! O simple spirit, guided from above, Dear Lady! friend devoutest of my choice, Thus mayest thou ever, evermore rejoice.

A View from the Bridge

Lawyer Alfieri describes history of Brooklyn neighborhood Red Hook, where many Sicilians live. Eddie Carbone lives with wife Beatrice and lusts for niece Catherine. Beatrice's cousins Marco and Rodolpho arrive as illegal immigrants, and Rodolpho begins to date Catherine. Envious and believing Rodolpho a homosexual, Eddie injures him while teaching him how to box, and Marco threatens him by holding a large chair over Eddie's head. Eddie reports Marco and Rodolpho to immigration services, and they are released on bail. Marco confronts Eddie, who pulls a knife, before being stabbed and dying in the ensuing fight.

The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas Sr.)

Leaving Gascony to join the Musketeers of the Guard, d'Artagnan is beaten by, Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu passing orders to spy Milady de Winters, with his letter of introduction to musketeer commander to Monsieur de Tréville stolen. Attempting to challenge Comte de Rochefort, d'Artagnan offends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and is challenged to a duel. Agents of Richelieu attempt to break of the duel, but d'Artagnan seriously wounds renowned fighter Jussac, and King Louis XIII appoints him to the king's guard. Assigned to regiment of Monsieur des Essart, he falls in love with Constance Bonacieux, and returns diamonds to Queen Anne of France from the Duke of Buckingham, with the aid of servant Planchet. d'Artagnan finds a fleur-de-lis tattoo on Milady de Winters' shoulder, and participates in the Siege of La Rochelle. Winters seduces jailer Felton into murdering Buckingham, poisons Constance, and is executed. Ultimately, d'Artagnan gets the promotion he desired. Others include Grimaud, Mousqueton, Kitty, and Bazin.

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Lincoln supposedly referred to the author as the "little lady who started this great war". The novel opens with Arthur and Emily Shelby selling the title character Tom and Eliza's son Harry. Eliza flees with Harry and meets up with husband George Harris while Tom befriends the white Eva, whose father Augustine St. Clare buys him. George and Eliza are hunted by Tom Loker on the way to Canada, who they deliver to a Quaker settlement after shooting. St. Clare challenges northern cousin Ophelia's prejudice on blacks by buying her the slave Topsy. Eva and St. Clare both die, and Tom and Emmeline are sold to transported northerner Simon Legree. After refusing to whip a slave, Legree vows to crush Tom's faith in God, ut Tom helps slaves Cass and Emmeline escape from the Louisiana plantation. Legree whips Tom to death before George Shelby can arrive to buy Tom's freedom. Cassy meets George Harris's sister, realizes Eliza is her daughter, and they travel to Canada and later Liberia.

The Prince and the Pauper (Mark Twain)

Living in Offal Court, London, Tom Canty temporarily switches places with lookalike Edward VI. Edward is beaten and experiences the difficulties of peasant life, befriending Miles Hendon, while Tom refuses to acknowledge The Great Seal. Ultimately, they switch roles and Edward is a merciful ruler.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

Living with Aunt Polly and half-brother Sid, the protagonist convinces children to whitewash a fence, and is shunned by Becky Thatcher for his former "engagement" with Amy Lawrence. At the graveyard with Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist sees body snatchers Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe, and witnesses Joe's murder of Robinson. After sneaking off to Jackson's Island, Joe Harper and Huck crash their own funeral. Disguised as a deaf-mute Spaniard, Injun Joe plans to rob Widow Douglas, and is encountered by the protagonist and Becky Thatcher in McDougal's Cave. Injun Joe starves in the cave, Huck is adopted by Douglas, and the two of them discover buried gold hidden by Injue Joe. In anecdotes throughout the story, Tom calls the first two disciples David and Goliath, and cheats to win a new bible as a result.

Liza of Lambeth (William Somerset Maugham)d

Liza Kemp rejects a proposal from Tom, a boy her age, and goes a trip to a nearby village on the August Bank Holiday Monday with Tom, her friend Sally and Sally's boyfriend Harry, and Jim Blakeston, a 40-year-old father of 5, with his wife. Jim beats Liza and his wife, and Harry beats Sally. Tom still loves Lisa, but she is pregnant, miscarries, and dies. Others include Jim's oldest daughter Polly, and neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Hodges.

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Mario works at Radio Panamericana with disaster-loving Pascual and eccentric Bolivian Pedro Camacho. He also has an affair with Uncle Lucho's divorced sister-in-law.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Marjorie teaches Bernice how to be social, and Bernice attracts the attention of Warren. Marjorie then tricks Bernice into getting a bob haircut, so Bernice cuts Marjorie's hair before leaving town, throwing her two braids onto Warren's porch.

The Flea (John Donne)

Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead, Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pampered swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas, is more than we would do. Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, nay more than married are. This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is; Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met, And cloistered in these living walls of jet. Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to that, self-murder added be, And sacrilege, three sins in killing three. Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence? Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that drop which it sucked from thee? Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou Find'st not thy self, nor me the weaker now; 'Tis true; then learn how false, fears be: Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

The Clerk's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Marquis Walter marries Griselda and tests her loyalty pretending to order the deaths of both her children and an annulment.

London, 1802 (William Wordsworth)

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

The Man of Law's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Mom of Sultan of Syria puts Constance adrift; washed ashore in Northumberland and marries King Alla; Christian faith is assured through the miracles of the healing of Hermengyld and the smiting of a wicked knight

The Shipman's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Monk John spends night with merchant's wife; John gets loan from merchant

The Bourgeois Gentleman (Moliere)

Mr. Jourdain desires to distance himself from the middle class, despite the cautionary warnings of Madame Jourdain. Cash-strapped nobleman Dorante feeds into his delusions, telling him he will marry Marchioness Dorimene, and that his daughter Lucille will marry a noble man. Lucille loves Cleonte, who disguises himself as a sultan of Turkey with the help of Madame Jourdain and valet Coveille in order to win approval for the match.

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are invited by Mr. Bingley to a ball, where daughters Jane Bennet meets Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet meets Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth is rebuffed a dance with Darcy. Caroline invites Jane Bingley to visit, but she gets sick in the rain on the way to her estate Netherfield. Clergyman Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth and is denied, and George Wichkham recounts how Darcy deprived him of employment. At another Netherfield ball, Elizabeth dances with Darcy, and the rejected Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas instead, before the Bingleys leave for London. Jane visits Aunt and Uncle Gardiner in London. Elizabeth meets Lady Catherine de Bourgh at Rosings Park, where Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam are also. Darcy reveals he stopped Jane from marrying Bingley, and Elizabeth accosts Darcy for denying Wickham, who is revealed to have squandered his money before attempting to elope with Darcy's sister Georgiana. Bennet sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, Jane marries Bingley, and after gaining approval from Bennet estate Longbourn, Darcy marries Elizabeth.

My Life had stood a Loaded Gun (Emily Dickinson)

My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun - In Corners - till a Day The Owner passed - identified - And carried Me away - And now We roam in Sovreign Woods - And now We hunt the Doe - And every time I speak for Him The Mountains straight reply - And do I smile, such cordial light Opon the Valley glow - It is as a Vesuvian face Had let it's pleasure through - And when at Night - Our good Day done - I guard My Master's Head - 'Tis better than the Eider Duck's Deep Pillow - to have shared - To foe of His - I'm deadly foe - None stir the second time - On whom I lay a Yellow Eye - Or an emphatic Thumb - Though I than He - may longer live He longer must - than I - For I have but the power to kill, Without - the power to die -

The Time of the Hero (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Narrated by Jaguar and Boa, cadets at Peruvian Leoncio Prado Military Academy. Jaguar kills a weakling student, contends with the gang The Circle, and his exam's answer key stolen by Cava. Others include The Slave and The Poet

Sonny's Blues (James Baldwin)

Narrator, an algebra teacher, reads about his title younger brother's arrest in a heroin bust. Brother plays jazz piano with the Creole in Greenwich Village.

The Pioneers (James Fenimore Cooper)

Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook coexist with Judge Marmaduke Temple, Elizabeth Temple, and hunter Oliver Edwards at Lake Otsego in New York. Marmaduke Temple cherishes the view of "Mount Vision", and Chingachgook dies at the end of the novel.

The Deerslayer (James Fenimore Cooper)

Natty Bumppo, an objector to scalping en route to meeting friend Chingachgook, encounters Henry March and pirate 'Floating Tom' Hutter, as well as his children Hetty and Judith. March and Hutter are captured attempting to scalp Hurons, and Bumppo is captured trying to rescue Chingachgook's betrothed Wah-ta-Wah. Hutter is scalped, English troops arrive to massacre Hurons, mortally wounding Hetty, and Judith is denied marriage by "deerslayer" Bumppo.

Resurrection (Leo Tolstoy)

Nekhlyudov attempts to save maid Maislova from Siberian prison.

The Knights (Aristophanes)

Nicias and Demosthenes claim that fellow slave Cleon has caused them to be beaten by master Demos. Agoracritus, a sausage-seller, is prophesized to replace Cleon as ruler of the polis. Agoracritus shamelessly defeats him in all challenges, eventually rejuvenating Demos with a 'good boiling'.

The Great Gatsby (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Nick Carraway meets Jay Gatsby on West Egg. Gatsby is mentored by Dan Cody, a graduate of Saint Olaf's, and good friends with Meier Wolfshiem. George and Myrtle Wilson live in the "Valley of Ash", and Gatsby is in love with Daisy Buchanan, who is married to Tom Buchanan. Others include cheating golfer Jordan Baker. Daisy cries over Gatsby's shirts, while he admires the green light on the bay. Daisy kills Myrtle driving Gatsby's car, and George kills Gatsby.

The Thin Man (Dashiell Hammett)

Nick Charles and Nora investigate the murder of secretary Julia Wolf and search for missing Clyde Wynant.

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Nina Gordon is the heiress of an increasingly worthless plantation, run by slave Harry who has a fierce rivalry with brother Tom Gordon. Nina ultimately marries the liberal Clayton. Others include slave Christian Milly, owned by Aunt Nesbit, and joker Tomtit, as well as Old Tiff. The title character, a Great Dismal Swamp maroon, preaches fiery sermons against slavery.

A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen)

Nora Helmer attempts to convince husband Torvald to give Kristine Linde a job at the bank. After Dr. Rank leaves, bank employee Krogstad blackmails Nora with information about her illegal loan. Dr. Rank reveals to Nora that he has terminal tuberculosis and is in love with her, but she rejects him, and feigns being bad at dancing so as to distract her husband from reading a letter Krogstad has sent about her crimes. After contemplating suicide, Nora is castigated harshly by Torvald, who promptly forgives her when Krogstad returns the bond on the request of Kristine, his former lover. Despite this, Nora leaves Torvald.

Cromwell (Victor Hugo)

Not performed until 1956, the play about Oliver Cromwell is notorious for its romanticist manifesto, its bevy of characters, and its 6920 verses.

A Red, Red Rose (Robert Burns)

O my Luve is like a red, red rose That's newly sprung in June; O my Luve is like the melody That's sweetly played in tune. So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only luve! And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my luve, Though it were ten thousand mile.

The Crying of Lot 49 (Thomas Pynchon)

Oedipa Maas, wife of Wendell "Mucho" Maas in Kinneret, California, finds evidence of secret organization Trystero in will of lover Pierce Inverarity. Trystero is mail organization society, rival of Thurn und Taxis, who marks territory with bins called "W.A.S.T.E", or "We Await Silent Trystero's Empire". Oedipa meets Metzger, Inverarity's lawyer who she has an affair with, Dr. Hilarius, a therapist who formerly induced insanity into Jews for the S.S., John Nefastis, who builds a machine to connect with Maxwell's demon, philatelist Genghis Cohen, and Mike Fallopian, who informs her of The Peter Pinguid Society while at the bar The Scope, which is frequented by Yoyodyne employees like Stanley Koteks. She also learns about Jacobean revenge play "The Courier's Tragedy", written by fictional Richard Wharfinger.

Cancer Ward (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

Oleg Kostoglotov stays at Ward 13, the cancer ward of a hospital. He meets Pavel Nikolayevich Rusanov, a "personnel officer," holds affairs with Zoya and Vera Gangart. After his release, he witnesses a Macaque Rhesus at the zoo, blinded by tobacco thrown at it.

The Cossacks (Leo Tolstoy)

Olenin travels to Caucasus mountains, befriends Eroshka, and loves Maryanka. Corrupted by Beletsky, he challenges Luka for her hand.

Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)

On Christmas Eve 1812, while living with blacksmith Joe Gargery, Pip steals a file, a pie and brandy for Abel Magwitch, who he meets in a graveyard. Abandoned bride Miss Havisham requests Mr. Pumblechook to bring Pip as company to Satis House, where he falls in love with adoptive daughter Estella. Dolge Orlick assaults Pip's sister, and lawyer Mr. Jaggers informs Pip that he has received a large sum of cash from an anonymous benefactor. At Barnard's Inn, Pip meets Bentley Drummle, Herbert Pocket, Matthew Pocket, and Startop. Herbert tells Pip he is engaged to Clara, and clerk Wemmick gets him a job at shipbroker Clarriker's. Abel Magwitch is shown to be the benefactor, and he had fought Compeyson, formerly to be married to Miss Havisham, in the graveyard. Estella, who is marrying Drummle, is shown to be the daughter of Molly and Magwitch, and Magwitch kills Compeyson on a boat to Hamburg. After proposing to Biddy and working to Cairo, Pip returns to London.

To a Mouse (Robert Burns)

On Turning up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785 Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickerin brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee Wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss 't! Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! It's silly wa's the win's are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste, An' weary Winter comin fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the Winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch cauld! But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!

Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)

On a bet from Colonel Pickering, Higgins teaches phonetics to Eliza Doolittle. She impresses Clara Eynsford-Hill with "new small talk" and marries Freddy Eynsford-Hill at the end of the play. Other characters include Mrs. Pearce, Alfred Doolittle and Nepomuck. Herbert Beerbohm Tree changed the ending to have Higgins and Eliza marry.

The Death of Artemio Cruz (Carlos Fuentes)

On his deathbed, the title character listens with Padilla to tapes of shady business dealings and reminisces about his life leading the Industrial Revolution Party. He dreams of women Catalina, who Father Paez convinces that the protagonist is morally degenerate, and Regina.

Treatise on an Astrolabe (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Only scientific work, written for his son Lewis

Palmetto Leaves (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Opting not to use her pen name Christopher Crowfield, the author published a travel memoir about her winters in Mandarian, Florida, which includes clippings of her brother's newspaper.

In Memoriam AHH (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Originally titled "The Way of the Soul", the poem was a requiem for Arthur Henry Hallam. Famous quotations include: I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation's final law Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shriek'd against his creed So runs my dream, but what am I? An infant crying in the night An infant crying for the light And with no language but a cry. The hills are shadows, and they flow From form to form, and nothing stands; They melt like mist, the solid lands, Like clouds they shape themselves and go.

Daughters of Fortune (Isabel Allende)

Orphan Eliza Sommers raised in Valparaiso by Rose and Jeremy Sommers with sailor brother John, and learns cooking from Mama Fresia. She loves Joaquin Andieta, who impregnates her before leaving for California gold rush. Chinese physician Tao Chi'en and Dutch Lutheran captain Victor Katz help her to California. Tao Chi'en loses in faith in America after seeing brothels in San Francisco, and Eliza miscarries, before working for Joe Bonecrusher, pretending to be Elias Andieta and a homosexual, to the irritation of guard Babalu. John is revealed to be Eliza's father, and sails to San Francisco with aid of Paulina Rodriguez de la Cruz. There he meets Rose's former suitor, Jacob Todd, now a newspaper writer named Jacob Freemont, who believes Joaquin Andieta is now the bandit Joaquin Murieta. Eliza gives up on her quest and unites with Tao Chi'en. Sequel is called "Portrait in Sepia".

Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)

Oscar Hopkins, Anglican priest, bets Lucinda Leplastrier he can transport a glass church from Sydney to Bellingen. Others include Fanny Drabble and Theophilus Hopkins.

Invictus (William Ernest Henley)

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

The Centaur (John Updike)

Outside Alton, Pennsylvania, teacher George Caldwell maintains a relationship with depressed son Peter, while reminiscing about his time as a football player and WW1 soldier. Peter, an admirer of Vermeer, worries that his friends will detect his psoriasis.

The Lady of Shalott (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Part I On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot; The yellow-leaved waterlily The green-sheathed daffodilly Tremble in the water chilly Round about Shalott. Willows whiten, aspens shiver. The sunbeam showers break and quiver In the stream that runneth ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls, and four gray towers Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott. Underneath the bearded barley, The reaper, reaping late and early, Hears her ever chanting cheerly, Like an angel, singing clearly, O'er the stream of Camelot. Piling the sheaves in furrows airy, Beneath the moon, the reaper weary Listening whispers, ' 'Tis the fairy, Lady of Shalott.' The little isle is all inrail'd With a rose-fence, and overtrail'd With roses: by the marge unhail'd The shallop flitteth silken sail'd, Skimming down to Camelot. A pearl garland winds her head: She leaneth on a velvet bed, Full royally apparelled, The Lady of Shalott. Part II No time hath she to sport and play: A charmed web she weaves alway. A curse is on her, if she stay Her weaving, either night or day, To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be; Therefore she weaveth steadily, Therefore no other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. She lives with little joy or fear. Over the water, running near, The sheepbell tinkles in her ear. Before her hangs a mirror clear, Reflecting tower'd Camelot. And as the mazy web she whirls, She sees the surly village churls, And the red cloaks of market girls Pass onward from Shalott. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd lad, Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, Goes by to tower'd Camelot: And sometimes thro' the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott. But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror's magic sights, For often thro' the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights And music, came from Camelot: Or when the moon was overhead Came two young lovers lately wed; 'I am half sick of shadows,' said The Lady of Shalott. Part III A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves, The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves, And flam'd upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd To a lady in his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field, Beside remote Shalott. The gemmy bridle glitter'd free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily As he rode down from Camelot: And from his blazon'd baldric slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armour rung, Beside remote Shalott. All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather, The helmet and the helmet-feather Burn'd like one burning flame together, As he rode down from Camelot. As often thro' the purple night, Below the starry clusters bright, Some bearded meteor, trailing light, Moves over green Shalott. His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flow'd His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down from Camelot. From the bank and from the river He flash'd into the crystal mirror, 'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:' Sang Sir Lancelot. She left the web, she left the loom She made three paces thro' the room She saw the water-flower bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side; 'The curse is come upon me,' cried The Lady of Shalott. Part IV In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning, The broad stream in his banks complaining, Heavily the low sky raining Over tower'd Camelot; Outside the isle a shallow boat Beneath a willow lay afloat, Below the carven stern she wrote, The Lady of Shalott. A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight, All raimented in snowy white That loosely flew (her zone in sight Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright) Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot, Though the squally east-wind keenly Blew, with folded arms serenely By the water stood the queenly Lady of Shalott. With a steady stony glance— Like some bold seer in a trance, Beholding all his own mischance, Mute, with a glassy countenance— She look'd down to Camelot. It was the closing of the day: She loos'd the chain, and down she lay; The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott. As when to sailors while they roam, By creeks and outfalls far from home, Rising and dropping with the foam, From dying swans wild warblings come, Blown shoreward; so to Camelot Still as the boathead wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her chanting her deathsong, The Lady of Shalott. A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy, She chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her eyes were darken'd wholly, And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly, Turn'd to tower'd Camelot: For ere she reach'd upon the tide The first house by the water-side, Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott. Under tower and balcony, By garden wall and gallery, A pale, pale corpse she floated by, Deadcold, between the houses high, Dead into tower'd Camelot. Knight and burgher, lord and dame, To the planked wharfage came: Below the stern they read her name, The Lady of Shalott. They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest, Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest. There lay a parchment on her breast, That puzzled more than all the rest, The wellfed wits at Camelot. 'The web was woven curiously, The charm is broken utterly, Draw near and fear not,—this is I, The Lady of Shalott.'

The Munich Mannequins (Sylvia Plath)

Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children. Cold as snow breath, it tamps the womb Where the yew trees blow like hydras, The tree of life and the tree of life Unloosing their moons, month after month, to no purpouse. The blood flood is the flood of love, The absolute sacrifice. It means: no more idols but me, Me and you. So, in their sulfur loveliness, in their smiles These mannequins lean tonight In Munich, morgue between Paris and Rome, Naked and bald in their furs, Orange lollies on silver sticks, Intolerable, without minds. The snow drops its pieces of darkness, Nobody's about. In the hotels Hands will be opening doors and setting Down shoes for a polish of carbon Into which broad toes will go tomorrow. O the domesticity of these windows, The baby lace, the green-leaved confectionery, The thick Germans slumbering in their bottomless Stolz. And the black phones on hooks Glittering Glittering and digesting Voicelessness. The snow has no voice

Of Human Bondage (William Somerset Maugham)

Philip Carew, a club-footed boy, rejects an offer to attend Oxford, instead traveling to Germany and France as an art student. He dates Fanny Price, who commits suicide, penny romance author Norah Nesbit, and Mildred, who leaves him for another man and later becomes a syphilitic prostitute. After a trip to Spain, he marries Sally Athelny and accepts a partner position at Dr. South's hospital.

Grass (Carl Sandburg)

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work— I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now? I am the grass. Let me work.

Tartuffe (Moliere)

Pious fraud Tartuffe entrances Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle. Orgon cancels his daughter Marianne's engagement to Valere for Tartuffe. Tartuffe is caught attempting to seduce Orgon's wife Elmire by Damis. Orgon signs over all worldly possessions to Tartuffe before discovering him again seducing Elmire. Tartuffe, with the help of Monsieur Loyal, blackmails Orgon with incriminating letters written by a friend, but in a famous deus ex machina, King Louis XIV intervenes, pardoning Orgon and arresting Tartuffe. Others include housemaid Dorine and Elmire's brother Cleante.

The Birds (Aristophanes)

Pisthetaerus and Euelpides discover King Tereus, now Hoopoe, and his wife Nightingale. They convince the birds to build a city in the sky, Cloud-Cuckoo-Land. Meton and Prometheus visit their city, among others, and the city blocks human prayers and godly powers. The Olympians negotiate peace with the birds, allowing Pisthetaerus to become king of Olympus.

The Buried Giant (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Plagued by memories problems in Arthurian England, Axl and Beatrice travel to visit their son and are staying in a Saxon village when it is attacked by ogres, with local boy Edwin being abducted. Warrior Wistan rescues a bitten Edwin and travels with the couple. Wistan is tasked with killing wise monk Jonus, when they meet Sir Gawain and it is revealed that memory problems arise from the breath of she-dragon Querig. Wistan slays Gawain and Querig, and the suppressed memories disappear, causing war and Axl and Beatrice ato separate over adultery.

Birthday Letters (Ted Hughes)

Poems written about author's wife Sylvia Plath. Poem "Last Letter" was found later and about the three days after her suicide.

Terra Nostra (Carlos Fuentes)

Pollo Phoibee falls into the Seine and time travels to Ancient Rome and Philip II's Spain. Pollo gives birth to the New World with Celestina, and this novel chronicles the construction of El Escorial. Others include Guzman, representing Cortez.

The Vivisector (Patrick White)

Poor Hurtle Duffield is adopted by the Courtneys in Australia as a companion for their hunchbacked daughter Rhoda. He takes inspiration from Maman and Rhoda, prostitute Nance, wealthy heiress Olivia Davenport, Greek mistress Hero Pavloussi, and child prodigy Kathy Volkov. As he grows older and blind, he produces one final masterpiece to God called "The Vivisector" with the help of Rhoda and mentor Don Lethbridge.

The Kreutzer Sonata (Leo Tolstoy)

Pozdnyshev kills wife after discovering affair with violinist Troukhatchevsky, and begs for forgiveness on train.

The Sorrows of Young Werther (Goethe)

Presented as letters written from Werther at Wahlheim to friend Wilhelm, Werther meets Charlotte and falls in love with her, even though she loves Albert. However, the sorrow of this unmet love causes him to leave for Weimar, where he meets Fraulein von B. Returning to Wahlheim, Werther meets Charlotte one last time, reading his translations of Ossian. Werther writes Albert for two pistols for "a journey", shooting himself and dying twelve hours later. His funeral is unattended, and Charlotte is stricken with grief.

Kongi's Forest (Wole Soyinka)

President Kongi, the dictator of a developing African country, desires King Oba Danlola to present a ceremonial yam during a state dinner to signify his abdication. Danlola's nephew Daodu is famed for growing yams, and his lover Sedi presents Kongi her father's head at the ceremonial dinner.

Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets (Stephen Crane)

Printed under pseudonym Johnston Smith, child Jimmie is saved from a fight by Pete, and goes home to brother Tommie, sister Maggie, drunken father and mother Mary Johnson. Jimmie becomes a teamster, and Maggie dates bartender Pete while working at a shirt factory. After Maggie is kicked out by Jimmie and Mary for "Goin to deh devil", Pete leaves her for Nellie, a "woman of brilliance and audacity". Maggie becomes a prostitute, pursued by grotesque men, while Nellie and her friends steal Pete's money. At the end, Maggie dies.

Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Saint Petersburg college student Raskolnikov refuses monetary help from Razumikhin, befriends drunk Marmeladov, and kills pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna and her half-sister Lizaveta for cash. Fevered Raskolnikov wanders St. Petersburg, witnesses Marmeladov being killed by a carriage, and gives the stolen money to his family, including prostitute Sonya. His mother Pulkheria Alexandrovna and sister Dunya arrive. Dunya was a governess for Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaïlov, who is proposed to marry Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin. Initially suspecting painters, detective Porfiry comes to suspect Raskolnikov, and Svidrigaïlov attempts to blackmail Raskolnikov. After failing to woo Dunya, Svidrigaïlov says he is "going to America" and shoots himself. Raskolnikov, possessing a cross belonging to Lizaveta, confesses to the crime on Sonya's behest and is sentenced to a work term in Siberia. Other events in this novel include Lebeziatnikov exposing of Svidrigaïlov's scheme to sew a stolen coin into Sonya's clothes. Raskolnikov is famous for his nihilism, and his comparison to Napoleon as an ubermensh.

Gargantua and Pantagruel (Francois Rabelais)

Published under anagram pen name Alcofribas Nasier, the pentology describes the two title characters. Extensively describing Abbey of Saint-Victor, Pantagruel befriends Panurge and sews a head back on the decapitated Epistemon. His father, Gargantua is fathered by Lord Grandgousier, and needs 17,913 cows to nurse. Lord Picrochole and the bakers war against Grangousier and the shepherds, during which Gargantua accidentally eats six pilgrims in a salad, and Friar John is awarded the "anti-church" Abbey of Thélème after the word. The Sibyl of Panzoust, the mute Goatnose, the old poet Raminagrobis, and Friar John all counsel Panurge against marriage. Pantagruel defends Judge Brindlegoose, who decides sentences by casting dice, visiting Oracle of Bacbuc, or "The Divine Bottle" for advice on the case. In eastern Asia, Panurge drowns the sheep flock of Dingdong, battles half-sausage Chitterlings on Wild Island, and meets Pope-Figland on the island of Ruach. They visit Tool Island, are imprisoned by Furred Law-Cats, and meet Queen Quintessence. After meeting the sexual Semiquavers, the Divine Bottle utters the prophesy "trinc", causing Panurge to immediately marry. The novel was famously translated into English by Thomas Urquhart.

Mason & Dixon (Thomas Pynchon)

Reverend Wicks Cherrycoke recounts the story of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon

The Red Rover (James Fenimore Cooper)

Sailor Dick Fid, free black sailor Scipio Africanus and Royal Navy officer James Wilder encounter famed pirate "The Red Rover". Other characters include Cassandra.

Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)

Salesman Willy Loman lives with wife Linda, and has two sons, Happy and Biff. Biff was a high school football star who failed to go to college due to a failing math grade, while Happy is a womanizer who tries to keep the family afloat. Willy is fired from his job by Howard Wagner, while Biff steals a fountain pen after his plan to start a sports store is rejected by Bill Oliver. Neighbor Charlie and his son Bernard give Willy money for a life insurance policy, and Biff reveals that he lost motivation for summer school after he saw his father having an affair in Boston with the Woman. The brothers and their father get in an argument at Frank's Chop House, and Willy hallucinates that his older brother Ben approves of his plan to kill himself by crashing his car. At his funeral Lina laments her husband's death just before the final payment on the house "...and there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear, Willy....we're free...we're free..."

The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett

Sam Spade, partner of Miles Archer, is a private detective hired by "Mr.s Wonderly", AKA Brigid O'Shaughnessy, to follow Floyd Thursby in search of sister Corinne. Archer and Thursby are killed, causing Spade to tell Effie Perine to repaint the business's sign. O'Shaughnessy searches for black enamel-coated statue of maltese falcon, competing against Joe Cairo, Greek homosexual, Capser Gutman, fat man, and Wilmer Cook, gunsel. Falcon traced to General Kemidov, exile in Constantinople, before being delivered to Spade by wounded Captain Jacobi of the ship La Paloma. Falcon revealed to be fake, and Archer turns O'Shaughnessy in for murder.

Conversation in the Cathedral (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Santiago Zavala, a student at National University of San Marcos, meets Ambrosio, his father's former chauffeur and the lover of Don Fermin, by chance at a dog pound, after which they attend the title bar.

When We Dead Awaken (Henrik Ibsen)

Sculptor Arnold Rubek and wife Maia meet Squire Ulfheim at a fjord-side spa. Arnold sees a woman in white, he he recognizes as his former model Irena. Irena says she has died after Arnold captured her soul and put it into his most famous sculpture, Resurrection. Arnold leaves Maia for Irena, who attempts to kill him with her knife. Planning to be married in the sunlight of the mountain peak, Arnold and Maia are killed in an avalanche.

The Rose Tattoo (Tennessee Williams)

Serafina learns that her late, truck-driving husband, Rosario, was unfaithful, who had the title object on his chest. Alvaro woos Serafina, dropping a condom while showing her body art. Others include Italian American Louisa.

Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)

Set in Green Town and named for a drink of "summer caught and stoppered", Douglas Spalding and brother Tom experience the joys of youth. Douglas receives a pair of sneakers from Mr. Sanderson and tells Leo Auffmann to build a Happiness Machine, to the confusion of wife Lena. The Happiness Machine burns down after producing misery, Bill Forrester learns the importance of little things by cutting grass, Mrs. Bentley's beliefs are challenged by Alice and Jane, and Colonel Freeleigh is presented as a living time machine. Miss Fern and Miss Roberta run down Mister Quartermain in the Green Machine, Mr. Tridden offers Douglas a ride on the trolley, John Huff moves away, and Elmira Brown believes rival candidate for the Honeysuckle Ladies Lodge Clara Goodwater is a witch. Douglas encounters the Tarot Witch, while other characters include Helen Loomis, Mr. Jonas, and Lavinia Nebb. Douglas ultimately further understands the nature of youth and death.

The Crucible (Arthur Miller)

Set in Salem and a metaphor for the Red Scare, Reverend Samuel Parris discovers that his daughter Betty Parris and other girls engaged in a pagan ritual with Barbadian slave Tituba in the forest. Ringleader niece Abigail Williams claims they were dancing, and affluent Thomas Putnam and Ann Putnam suggest the intervention of demonologist Reverend John Hale. Abigail planned the ritual to curse Elizabeth Proctor, wife of farmer John Proctor who she had an affair with. Rebecca Nurse believes a doctor would better help Betty than a demonologist, and Giles Corey remarks that his wife has been reading strange books. Tituba confesses that Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good are witches, while Abigail and Betty accuse Bridget Bishop and George Jacobs. During the ensuing trials, Elizabeth Proctor receives a doll from Mary Warren, and John Proctor, when challenged to recite the Ten Commandments, forgets "you shall not commit adultery". After Giles Corey and Francis Nurse's wives are arrested, clerk Ezekiel Cheever and marshall George Herrick arrest Elizabeth Proctor. In court, John denounces Abigail for her lies and presents a deposition, but Governor Danforth and Judge Hathorne declare his evidence illegal due to the :"invisible nature" of witchcraft. The court resorts to extralegal methods to secure convictions. John Proctor is ultimately hung for witchcraft, after he refuses to sign a confession.

The Prairie (James Fenimore Cooper)

Settlers Ishmael, his family, Ellen and Abiram meet the trapper (Natty Bumppo), beekeeper Paul Hover, and Captain Duncan Uncas Middleton. Ishmael's son Asa is found dead, and he allies with Teton chief Mahtoree to capture Ellen and Inez, Middleton's wife. Pawnee Hard-Heart survives a prairie fire wrapped in buffalo, assists the trapper, is attempted to be adopted by Le Balafre, and kills Mahtoree and Teton brave Weucha. Asa's murderer discovered to be Abiram White. Other characters include comic-relief Dr. Obed Bat.

The Island of Doctor Moreau (HG Wells)

Shipwrecked Edward Prendick is rescued by Montgomery, whose manservant is M'ling, and taken to the island of Doctor Moreau. Moreau produces hybrid animals called Beast-folk in an attempt to make humans. The Beast-folk, lead by the Sayer of Law, retake the island from Montgomery and Moreau.

Slow Learner (Thomas Pynchon)

Short story collection containing five short stories "The Small Rain": Nathan Levine, a lazy Specialist 3/C in the Army stationed at New Orleans, is tasked with cleaning up bodies from the hurricane-buffeted island of Creole. "Low-lands": Dennis Flange drinks with Rocco Squarcione and friends Pig Bodine and Bolingbroke. Rocco's wife Cindy orders them away, and they drink and sleep at the dump. Dennis wakes up to hear a beautiful voice of a three-foot woman who calls for his hand in marriage or to be his child. "Entropy": Meatball Mulligan has party in hothouse room while Callisto and his lover Aubade contemplate the nature of entropy and the difficulties of nursing a wounded bird back to health in a room with the constant temperature of 37 Fahrenheit. "Under the Rose": Porpentine and Goodfellow search for nemesis Moldweorp who plans to assassinate Consul-General in Cairo. Bongo-Shaftsbury is a spy for Moldweorp, who kills Porpentine. "The Secret Integration": Grover Snodd and his friends Tim Santora, Carl Barrington, Etienne Cherdlu, and Hogan Slothrop make up the "Inner Junta" and aid African American Carl McAfee.

Exile and the Kingdom (Albert Camus)

Short story collection: "The Adulterous Woman": Janine and Marcel, French married couple in Algeria, visit a military fort. Janine flirts with a soldier on the bus, is irritated by her husband's inertia, and ultimately lies on the floor of the fort. "The Renegade": The narrator is sent as a Christian missionary to the tribal city of Taghaza. He converts to the Church of Fetish, has his tongue removed for attempting to rape a woman, and ultimately kills another missionary sent to the city. He is tortured and executed. "The Silent Men": Yvars and other cooper attempt to strike for a raise but fail. "The Guest": French policeman in Algeria Balducci hands over an Arab prisoner to teacher Daru, who sets the prisoner free. Nonetheless, the prisoner still head to his jail in Tinguit. "The Artist at Work": Gilbert Jonas sits on a scaffolding painting to the annoyance of wife Louise and friend Rateau, before switching to writing. "The Growing Stone": d'Arrast, escorted by chauffeur Socrates, is to build a sea-wall at Iguape, Brazil. There is a ritual around a strange statue of a deity, and d'Arrast carries a heavy stone that a sailor has promised to do instead.

A Sportsman's Sketches (Ivan Turgenev)

Short story collection: Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky District- unable to sleep, the narrator soliloquizes with Alexander G Bezhin Lea- the narrator meets 5 children around a campfire who guard a horse. Pretending to be asleep, the narrator hears them tell stories of fairies. My Neighbor Radilov- Yermolay and the narrator have dinner with landowner Radilov, who tells them he did not cry at his wife's death until a fly crawled over her eye. He disappears after. Khor and Kalinych- title peasants work for landowner Polutykin. Commentary on serfdom which features the author himself, supporting westernization Yermolay and the Miller's Wife- While Yermolay stays at Zherkov's home, Zherkov describes the injustices of serfdom

Auld Lang Syne (Robert Burns)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne! Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely ye'll be your pint stowp! And surely I'll be mine! And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c. We twa hae run about the braes, And pou'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c. We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, Frae morning sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roar'd Sin' auld lang syne. For auld, &c. And there's a hand, my trusty fere! And gie's a hand o' thine! And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught, For auld lang syne. For auld, &c.

Bleak House (Charles Dickens)

Sir Leicester Dedlock and his wife Honoria live on estate at Chesney Wold, but Honoria gave birth to a daughter Esther by lover Captain Hawdon. Esther is raised by Miss Barbary, but is remanded to lawyer "Conversation" Kenge before living with Jarndyce. Jarndyce is in a legal battle with wards Richard Carstone and Ada Clare over a will, while Esther meets Allan Woodcourt. Mr. Tulkinghorn witnesses Honoria, another party in Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, faint when seeing the handwriting of copyist Nemo, who he learns of from Jo in Tom-All-Alone's. Disguised as her maid Mademoiselle Hortense, Honoria is led to Nemo's grave by Jo, who is driven out by Inspector Bucket and Tulkinghorn. Richard and Ada marry, Ada being pregnant, Esther catches smallpox and learns Lady Dedlock is her mother, and Woodcourt survives a shipwreck only to learn Esther is to marry John Jarndyce. Hortense murders Tulkinghorn, framing Honoria, who is exonerated by Inspector Bucket. Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce is resolved, but it swallows the estate, and Richard dies of tuberculosis. Subplots include the marriage of Caddy Jellyby and Prince Turveydrop, and George Rouncewell's family reunion.

Ichabod (John Greenleaf Whittier)

So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn Which once he wore! The glory from his gray hairs gone Forevermore! Revile him not, the Tempter hath A snare for all; And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, Befit his fall! Oh, dumb be passion's stormy rage, When he who might Have lighted up and led his age, Falls back in night. Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark A bright soul driven, Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark, From hope and heaven! Let not the land once proud of him Insult him now, Nor brand with deeper shame his dim, Dishonored brow. But let its humbled sons, instead, From sea to lake, A long lament, as for the dead, In sadness make. Of all we loved and honored, naught Save power remains; A fallen angel's pride of thought, Still strong in chains. All else is gone; from those great eyes The soul has fled: When faith is lost, when honor dies, The man is dead! Then, pay the reverence of old days To his dead fame; Walk backward, with averted gaze, And hide the shame!

How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Leo Tolstoy)

Spurred by Satan, Pakhom buys land from the Bashkirs, dies and is buried in a 6-foot plot of land.

Ariel (Sylvia Plath)

Stasis in darkness. Then the substanceless blue Pour of tor and distances. God's lioness, How one we grow, Pivot of heels and knees!—The furrow Splits and passes, sister to The brown arc Of the neck I cannot catch, N*gger-eye Berries cast dark Hooks— Black sweet blood mouthfuls, Shadows. Something else Hauls me through air— Thighs, hair; Flakes from my heels. White Godiva, I unpeel— Dead hands, dead stringencies. And now I Foam to wheat, a glitter of seas. The child's cry Melts in the wall. And I Am the arrow, The dew that flies Suicidal, at one with the drive Into the red Eye, the cauldron of morning. (* is inserted due to profanity restrictions)

The Clouds (Aristophanes)

Strepsiades tries to convince Pheidippides to study with Socrates at the Thinkery, ultimately going himself. Socrates, who is introduced hanging in a basket to better observe the sun, has created a unit of measurement for a flea's jump, discerned that flies buzz because their rears are shaped like trumpets, and repurposed compasses to steal cloaks from the gymnasium. Pheidippides enrolls later, witnesses an argument between Superior Argument and Inferior Argument, and defends his right to beat his father and mother. Enraged at this, Strepsiades burns the Thinkery.

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

Subtitled "The Modern Prometheus", the novel is told in a series of letters between arctic Captain Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. Robert picks up Victor Frankenstein from an iceberg. Victor loves Elizabeth Lavenza, attends the University of Ingolstadt where he studies Albertus Magnus, and creates a large monster. The monster kills his brother William, framing Justine Moritz with a picture of Caroline Beaufort, Victor's mother. After recuperating with the help of friend Henry Clerval, he meets the monster in the Alps. The monster describes his stay in a cottage, where he learned to read from Plutarch and Milton, met the old man de Lacey, and heard the story of Felix and Safie's love after Felix helped her Turkish father escape prison. Being rejected, the monster goes to kill William. Victor attempts to build another monster in Scotland, but Clerval is murdered, for which he is falsely held in Mr. Kirwin's jail, and he chases the monster to the Arctic, where Victor dies of hypothermia. The monster despairs his death before swimming away.

Silas Marner (George Eliot)

Subtitled "The Weaver of Raveloe", the title character works as a weave in Lantern Yard. He is accused of stealing congregation funds while watching an ill deacon, and is decided guilty based on a pocketknife which he lent to William Dane and the money's empty bag in his house. After leaving Lantern Yard for Raveloe, the son of rich land-owner Squire Cass, Dunstan Cass, steals all of the protagonist's money. Meanwhile, Dunstan's older brother Godfrey Cass is prohibited from marrying Nancy Lammeter by his previous marriage to opium-addict Molly Farren. Farren dies in the cold, and her daughter wanders into the protagonist's house. The protagonist names her Eppie, and raises her with the help of Dolly Winthrop. Dunstan is discovered in the bottom of a ditch dead with the protagonist's stolen gold, Eppie rejects an offer to return to Godfrey Cass, and she marries Adam, Dolly's son.

The Gilded Age (Mark Twain)

Subtitled A Tale of Today and co-written by Charles Dudley Warner, Silas "Si" Hawkins attempts to get rich by selling Tennessee land, while adopted Laura works as a lobbyist in Washington D.C. In a parallel section, Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly attempt to make money. Others include Colonel Selby and Senator Dilworthy.

Snow-Bound (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Subtitled A Winter Idyl, the poem follows a family stuck in a snowstorm in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The poem describes "The sun that brief December day / Rose cheerless over hills of gray" and "tiny spherule traced with lines / Of Nature's geometric signs" after his family woke up and "looked upon a world unknown."

The Friar's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Summoner and demon pledge brotherhood. Demon takes Summoner and frying pan to Hell after an old woman damns him.

Crossing the Bar (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar.

The Bow and the Lyre (Octavio Paz)

Taken from a Heraclitus quote, the author alleges that poetry facilitates interior invention, can alter the world, and allows man to attain "pure time".

The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Takes place in the republic of Gilead, in the former USA after Christian Reconstructionist movement called the "Sons of Jacob" where women are forbidden to read and homosexuality is considered Gender Treachery. Offred is a handmaiden to Fred, The Commander. Fred plays Scrabble with Offred in his study, taking her to brothel Jezebel's, where she meets Moira, an escaped handmaiden. Fred's wife, Serena Joy, is a Christian media personality who arranges for her to sleep with reporter Nick in exchange for information about her daughter. Ofglen reveals the Mayday resistance organization to Offred before killing herself. Offred is pregnant with Nick's child and is taken away in a van of The Eyes of God, the secret police, even though Nick says they are the Mayday group. The story is revealed to be a cassette tape presented by speaker Professor Pieixoto and Knotly Wade

The Lion and the Jewel (Wole Soyinka)

Teacher Lakunle desires to modernize Africa, rejects the bride-price practice, and loves Sidi. A photograph arrives, and the people imitate a car in the "Dance of the Lost Traveler". Chieftain Baroka plans to marry Sidi, wooing her with the assistance of his wifi Sadiku, and the irritation of other wife Ailatu. Sidi ultimately weds Baroka. It is divided into sections of "morning", "noon", and "night."

Women in Love (DH Lawrence)

Teacher Ursula and artist Gudrun Brangwen fall in love with school inspector Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich respectively. Gerald's sister Diana drowns, and Gudrun meets emotionally-commanding Dresden artist Loerke. Birkin attempts to strangle Gudrun, but changes his mind and climbs the Alps, only to slip and fall to his death. Rupert laments the death of his dear friend to Ursula

Sailing to Byzantium (William Butler Yeats)

That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees —Those dying generations—at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect. An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress, Nor is there singing school but studying Monuments of its own magnificence; And therefore I have sailed the seas and come To the holy city of Byzantium. O sages standing in God's holy fire As in the gold mosaic of a wall, Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, And be the singing-masters of my soul. Consume my heart away; sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is; and gather me Into the artifice of eternity. Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enamelling To keep a drowsy Emperor awake; Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

Krapp's Last Tape (Samuel Beckett)

The 69-year-old protagonist marvels over the word spool before listening to a tape made by his 39 year old self. His younger self is throwing a ball to a dog when his mother dies, and he uses the word viduity which his older self fails to recognize. His younger self recalls making love to a girl on a punt. He ultimately regrets his life and has nothing positive to say of himself or his past selves on his next tape. The play served as an opening for the author's Endgame, and featured many elements in the style of his TV show Eh Joe.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

The Mariner and his ship are stuck in Antarctic ice. An albatross leads them free, but the Mariner shoots it with a crossbow, killing it. The Mariner is forced to where the albatross over his neck, and the crew is killed by cold. The Mariner is approached by a ship with Death, a woman playing dice, and he is won by Life-in-Death. As the ship approaches the mariner's homeland, a whirlpool swallows it, and the Mariner is rescued by a boat of the Hermit, the Pilot, and the Pilot's Boy. The story is told to a group of wedding guests. Quotations include "water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink".

Sula (Toni Morrison)

The Bottoms is a mostly black neighborhood in Ohio. Resident Shadrack is broken by WW1, and creates holiday National Suicide Day. Nel is bound to social conventions by mother Helene, but meets grandmother Rochelle who worked as a prostitute. Sula lives with eccentric grandmother Eva and mother Hannah. Sula and Nel are friends until Sula is pushing neighborhood boy Chicken Little on the swing when he falls into the river and drowns. Sula watches her mother burn to death after her dress catches on fire, and leaves the Bottom, having affairs with many men before returning 10 years later. The town regards her as the personification of evil for her lack of social conventions, and she has an affair with Nel's husband Jude before dying. Others include Ajax, Tar Baby, and the Deweys.

Red Harvest (Dashiell Hammett)

The Continental Op is called to Personville, AKA "Poisonville", by Donald Willsson, who is murdered, and agrees to help father Elihu Willsson clean up city. He meets corrupt police chief Noonan, murdered love-interest Dinah Brand and gangleader Starkey, before leaving the city.

The Hairy Ape (Eugene O'Neill)

The Yank works shoveling coal in a cruiser with Englishman socialist Long and reminiscing Irishman Paddy. Mildred, daughter of a rich industrialist, calls the Yank a hairy ape. The Yank is outraged by the econmic gaps he sees, is jailed for punching a buisnessman, and is murdered by an ape at the zoo after he sets it free.

The Rebel (Albert Camus)

The author analyzes the metaphysical and historical nature of revolution through Epicurus, Lucretius, Marquis de Sade, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Stirner, André Breton, as well as others. It also distinguishes the "age of negation" and the "age of ideology".

An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness (Chinua Achebe)

The author calls the subject a "bloody racist", and claims the subject denies human expression to African culture.

The Myth of Sisyphus (Albert Camus)

The author presents the central question of absurdist philosophy as "Should I kill myself?", defines suicide as "the confession that life is not worth living," and cited the "leap of faith" as a philosophical suicide. The essay uses Don Juan, the actor, and the conqueror as examples, and analyzes the books of Dostoevsky. Finally, the author concludes that "all is well," indeed, that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Ode: Intimations of Immortality (William Wordsworth)

The child is father of the man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. (Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up") There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight, To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore;— Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day. The things which I have seen I now can see no more. The Rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the Rose, The Moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare, Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath past away a glory from the earth. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, And while the young lambs bound As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: A timely utterance gave that thought relief, And I again am strong: The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep; No more shall grief of mine the season wrong; I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng, The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep, And all the earth is gay; Land and sea Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Doth every Beast keep holiday;— Thou Child of Joy, Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy. Ye blessèd creatures, I have heard the call Ye to each other make; I see The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; My heart is at your festival, My head hath its coronal, The fulness of your bliss, I feel—I feel it all. Oh evil day! if I were sullen While Earth herself is adorning, This sweet May-morning, And the Children are culling On every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide, Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm, And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm:— I hear, I hear, with joy I hear! —But there's a Tree, of many, one, A single field which I have looked upon, Both of them speak of something that is gone; The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream? Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy, But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy; The Youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the Man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a Mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely Nurse doth all she can To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man, Forget the glories he hath known, And that imperial palace whence he came. Behold the Child among his new-born blisses, A six years' Darling of a pigmy size! See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies, Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses, With light upon him from his father's eyes! See, at his feet, some little plan or chart, Some fragment from his dream of human life, Shaped by himself with newly-learn{e}d art A wedding or a festival, A mourning or a funeral; And this hath now his heart, And unto this he frames his song: Then will he fit his tongue To dialogues of business, love, or strife; But it will not be long Ere this be thrown aside, And with new joy and pride The little Actor cons another part; Filling from time to time his "humorous stage" With all the Persons, down to palsied Age, That Life brings with her in her equipage; As if his whole vocation Were endless imitation. Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie Thy Soul's immensity; Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep Thy heritage, thou Eye among the blind, That, deaf and silent, read'st the eternal deep, Haunted for ever by the eternal mind,— Mighty Prophet! Seer blest! On whom those truths do rest, Which we are toiling all our lives to find, In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave; Thou, over whom thy Immortality Broods like the Day, a Master o'er a Slave, A Presence which is not to be put by; Thou little Child, yet glorious in the might Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height, Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke The years to bring the inevitable yoke, Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife? Full soon thy Soul shall have her earthly freight, And custom lie upon thee with a weight, Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life! O joy! that in our embers Is something that doth live, That Nature yet remembers What was so fugitive! The thought of our past years in me doth breed Perpetual benediction: not indeed For that which is most worthy to be blest; Delight and liberty, the simple creed Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest, With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast:— Not for these I raise The song of thanks and praise But for those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings; Blank misgivings of a Creature Moving about in worlds not realised, High instincts before which our mortal Nature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised: But for those first affections, Those shadowy recollections, Which, be they what they may Are yet the fountain-light of all our day, Are yet a master-light of all our seeing; Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake, To perish never; Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour, Nor Man nor Boy, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy! Hence in a season of calm weather Though inland far we be, Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea Which brought us hither, Can in a moment travel thither, And see the Children sport upon the shore, And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore. Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song! And let the young Lambs bound As to the tabor's sound! We in thought will join your throng, Ye that pipe and ye that play, Ye that through your hearts to-day Feel the gladness of the May! What though the radiance which was once so bright Be now for ever taken from my sight, Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind; In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be; In the soothing thoughts that spring Out of human suffering; In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind. And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves, Forebode not any severing of our loves! Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might; I only have relinquished one delight To live beneath your more habitual sway. I love the Brooks which down their channels fret, Even more than when I tripped lightly as they; The innocent brightness of a new-born Day Is lovely yet; The Clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober colouring from an eye That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; Another race hath been, and other palms are won. Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon (Washington Irving)

The collection contains The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Roscoe, Christmas, and other short stories by the title narrator.

Tales of the Alhambra (Washington Irving)

The collection documented the author's time in Spain with Mateo Ximenes.

Notes from Underground (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

The first section "Underground" describes the unnamed St. Petersburg civil servant's relish of a toothache, beginning "I am a sick man . . . I am a spiteful man." The second section, Apropos of the Wet Snow, features prostitute Liza who rejects five dollars, and a dinner party with Zherkov.

Fog (Carl Sandburg)

The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on

The Gulag Archipelago (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

The history from 1918 to 1956 of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn drew on his experiences as a zek,or prisoner.

Theme for English B (Langston Hughes)

The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true. I wonder if it's that simple? I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class. The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem, through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page: It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you. hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page. (I hear New York, too.) Me—who? Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being colored doesn't make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races. So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white— yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That's American. Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that's true! As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me— although you're older—and white— and somewhat more free. This is my page for English B.

The War of the Worlds (HG Wells)

The narrator of this novel kills the Curate with a shovel after the Curate starts screaming uncontrollably. This novel describes a red weed that spreads uncontrollably in water. The opening line of this novel imagines men who scrutinize animalcules in a tiny drop of water. In this novel, the HMS Thunder Child is destroyed after it manages to take down a Tripod. Ogilvy is killed after a mysterious black cylinder is opened in this book; many other casualties come from black smoke and heat rays. This novel ends with the unnamed narrator reuning with his wife after the antagonists die from bacteria. For 10 points, name this sci-fi novel about a Martian invasion written by HG Wells. The novel is famous for its radio broadcast by Orson Welles and in Quito which killed six people.

The Unnameable (Samuel Beckett)

The narrator, an immobile and nameless man, monologues about "Manhood" and "Worm". The book frequently references the author's earlier "Murphy", "Mercier and Camier", and "Watt."

Adam Bede (George Eliot)

The novel tracks a love rectangle in the rural town of Hayslope, between Hetty Sorel, captain Arthur Donnithorne, carpenter Adam Bede, and Methodist preacher Dinah Morris. Hetty is pregnant by Arthur, but agrees to marry Adam. She gives birth while searching for Arthur, letting the baby die of exposure in a field. She is comforted at death by Dinah, and Arthur returns to beg for her transportation. Dinah and Adam fall in love. The novel was based on a story told to author Mary Ann Evans by Methodist minister Elizabeth Evans.

Sun Stone (Octavio Paz)

The poem models the Aztec calendar, with 584 lines to match the 584 day period, and its cyclical phrases mirror the synodic periods of Venus. willow of crystal, a poplar of water, a pillar of fountain by the wind drawn over, tree that is firmly rooted and that dances, turning course of a river that goes curving, advances and retreats, goes roundabout, arriving forever: the calm course of a star or the spring, appearing without urgency, water behind a stillness of closed eyelids flowing all night and pouring out prophecies, a single presence in the procession of waves wave over wave until all is overlapped, in a green sovereignty without decline a bright hallucination of many wings when they all open at the height of the sky, course of a journey among the densities of the days of the future and the fateful brilliance of misery shining like a bird that petrifies the forest with its singing and the annunciations of happiness among the branches which go disappearing, hours of light even now pecked away by the birds, omens which even now fly out of my hand, an actual presence like a burst of singing, like the song of the wind in a burning building, a long look holding the whole world suspended, the world with all its seas and all its mountains, body of light as it is filtered through agate, the thighs of light, the belly of light, the bays, the solar rock and the cloud-colored body, color of day that goes racing and leaping, the hour glitters and assumes its body, now the world stands, visible through your body, and is transparent through your transparency, I go a journey in galleries of sound, I flow among the resonant presences going, a blind man passing transparencies, one mirror cancels me, I rise from another, forest whose trees are the pillars of magic, under the arches of light I go among the corridors of a dissolving autumn, I go among your body as among the world, your belly the sunlit center of the city, your breasts two churches where are celebrated the great parallel mysteries of the blood, the looks of my eyes cover you like ivy, you are a city by the sea assaulted, you are a rampart by the light divided into two halves, distinct, color of peaches, and you are saltiness, you are rocks and birds beneath the edict of concentrated noon and dressed in the coloring of my desires you go as naked as my thoughts go naked, I go among your eyes as I swim water, the tigers come to these eyes to drink their dreams, the hummingbird is burning among these flames, I go upon your forehead as on the moon, like cloud I go among your imagining journey your belly as I journey your dream, your loins are harvest, a field of waves and singing, your loins are crystal and your loins are water, your lips, your hair, the looks you give me, they all night shower down like rain, and all day long you open up my breast with your fingers of water, you close my eyelids with your mouth of water, raining upon my bones, and in my breast the roots of water drive deep a liquid tree, I travel through your waist as through a river, I voyage your body as through a grove going, as by a footpath going up a mountain and suddenly coming upon a steep ravine I go the straitened way of your keen thoughts break through to daylight upon your white forehead and there my spirit flings itself down, is shattered now I collect my fragments one by one and go on, bodiless, searching, in the dark.... you take on the likeness of a tree, a cloud, you are all birds and now you are a star, now you resemble the sharp edge of a sword and now the executioner's bowl of blood, the encroaching ivy that over grows and then roots out the soul and divides it from itself, writing of fire on the slab of jade, the cleft in the rock, serpent-goddess and queen, pillar of cloud, and fountain struck from the stone, the nest of eagles, the circle of the moon, the seed of anise, mortal and smallest thorn that has the power to give immortal pain, shepherd of valleys underneath the sea and guardian of the valley of the dead, liana that hangs at the pitch of vertigo, climber and bindweed and the venomous plant, flower of resurrection and grape of life, lady of the flute and of the lightning-flash, terrace of jasmine, and salt rubbed in the wound, a branch of roses for the man shot down, snowstorm in August, moon of the harrowing, the writing of the sea cut in basalt, the writing of the wind upon the desert, testament of the sun, pomegranate, wheat-ear.... life and death are reconciled in thee, lady of midnight, tower of clarity, empress of daybreak, moon virgin, mother of all mother liquids, body and flesh of the world, the house of death, I have been endlessly falling since my birth, I fall in my own self, never touch my depth, gather me in your eyes, at last bring together my scattered dust, make peace among my ashes, bind the dismemberment of my bones, and breathe upon my being, bring me to earth in your earth, your silence of peace to the intellectual act against itself aroused; open now your hand lady of the seeds of life, seeds that are days, day is an immortality, it rises, it grows, is done with being born and never is done, every day is a birth, and every daybreak another birthplace and I am the break of day, we all dawn on the day, the sun dawns and daybreak is the face of the sun.... gate of our being, awaken me, bring dawn, grant that I see the face of the living day, grant that I see the face of this live night, everything speaks now, everything is transformed, O arch of blood, bridge of our pulse beating, carry me through to the far side of this night.... gateway of being: open your being, awaken, learn then to be, begin to carve your face, develop your elements, and keep your vision keen to look at my face, as I at yours, keen to look full at life right through to death, faces of sea, of bread, of rock, of fountain, the spring of origin which will dissolve our faces in the nameless face, existence without face the inexpressible presence of presences... I want to go on, to go beyond; I cannot; the moment scatters itself in many things, I have slept the dreams of the stone that never dreams and deep among the dreams of years like stones have heard the singing of my imprisoned blood, with a premonition of light the sea sang, and one by one the barriers give way, all of the gates have fallen to decay, the sun has forced an entrance through my forehead, has opened my eyelids at last that were kept closed, unfastened my being of its swaddling clothes, has rooted me out of my self, and separated me from my animal sleep centuries of stone and the magic of reflections resurrects willow of crystal, a poplar of water, a pillar of fountain by the wind drawn over, tree that is firmly rooted and that dances, turning course of a river that goes curving, advances and retreats, goes roundabout, arriving forever:

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Mark Twain)

The protagonist interviews Simon Wheeler about acquaintance Leonidas W. Smiley, who instead tells him about Jim Smiley and his frog Daniel Webster. A stranger feeds the frog lead shot, winning a $40 bet with Jim Smiley. The author re-translated its French version, titling it "The Jumping Frog: in English, then in French, and then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil".

Romola (George Eliot)

The protagonist marries Tito Melema, who is also married to Tessa, participates in Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities, and drifts off to sea. Tito is murdered by adoptive father Baldassarre, and the protagonist helps Plague victims before returning to Florence.

Daniel Deronda (George Eliot)

The protagonist meets Gwendolen Harleth in Leubronn, Germany. Faced with dire finances, Gwendolen marries Henleigh Mallinger Grandcourt, who has a number of illegitimate children with Lydia Glasher. She hesitates to save the manipulative Henleigh from drowning after he is knocked off a boat. The protagonist, suspected illegitimate child of Hugo Mallinger, marries Jewish Mirah Lapidoth, promises to Mordecai to advocate for Judaism, and ultimately moves to Palestine.

Peer Gynt (Henrik Ibsen)

The protagonist, son of formerly rich farmer Jon Gynt, recounts a story of reindeers to his mother Åse, generally called "The Buckride". At the weddign of Ingrid, the protagonist is insulted by Aslak, denied a dance by Solveig, and ultimately runs off to the mountains to be with Ingrid. Infatuated by three dairymaids, Peer hits his head, and dreams that he meets the troll king, and receives philosophical advice from the Old Man on the Mountain and Bøyg. Waking, Peer gives Helga a silver button for her sister Solveig. Peer lives with Solveig in the mountains, but abandons her after seeing a green woman from his dreams and the child he fathered with her in his mind. Peer becomes a merchant and slaver in Morocco, but is abandoned in Egypt, where he is tricked by chieftain's daughter Anitra. Entering a madhouse, Peer is hailed as "Keeper of all fools", and his soul is solicited by the "Strange Passenger" while on a boat returning to Norway. The Button-molder and the Lean One argue over Peer's sins, stating that Peer is a troll because he has never been himself. Ultimately, he dies in Solveig's arms.

The Beautiful and Damned (F Scott Fitzgerald)

The relationship between heir Anthony Patch and wife Gloria Gilbert. Author friend Richard "Dick" Caramel publishes The Demon Lover. Mr. Bloeckman is a movie producer, and Dorothy Raycroft has an affair with Anthony while he's in the army

Malone Dies (Samuel Beckett)

The title character is imprisoned in an asylum for murdering six people. He writes a story about Sapo, later Macmann, who love Moll and witnesses Lemuel kill Maurice and Ernest at St. John's of God.

The Immoralist (Andre Gide)

The story is told through an account sent to Monsieur D. R., Président du Conseil to assist Michel getting a job. Michel recovers from tuberculosis, loves an Arab boy, and befriends Menalque. Marceline, Michel's orphan sister, nurses him back to health.

Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen)

The title character marries George Tesman, a reliable academic who competes with rival, recovered alcoholic Eilert Lövborg, for a university position. Although currently having a relationship with Thea Elvsted, Lövborg and the title character are former lovers, and Lövborg labors on the his masterpiece work, the sequel to his recently published novel. When he loses the work while drinking with George and Judge Brack, the title character convinces Lövborg to commit suicide with a pistol she gives him. Judge Brack confronts the title character about the origins on the pistol, and she shoots herself in the head.

Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)

The title character's mother Agnes Fleming dies in childbirth, and he is raised by Ms. Mann before being put in a workhouse by Mr. Bumble. After asking "please sir, can I have some more", Oliver is almsot adopted by Mr. Gamfield, instead taken in by Mr. Sowerberry, where he is abused by Noah Claypole, maid Charlotte, and Mrs. Sowerberry. Running away to London, he meets Jack Dawkins, who is pickpocket The Artful Dodger, sidekick Charley Bates, and Jewish criminal Fagan at Saffron Hill. Almost blamed for being a pickpocket, he is adopted by Mr. Brownlow, cared for by Mrs. Bedwin, but is forced to perform a robbery by Nancy and Bill Sykes. He is shot, taken into the care of Miss Rose and Mrs. Maylie. Monks desires to destroy Oliver, consulting with Bumble's new wife Mrs. Corney and tossing Oliver's mother's locket into the river. Noah and Charlotte come to London, where Noah joins Fagin as "Morris Bolter," and the Artful Dodger is sent to Australia for stealing a silver snuff box, causing Sykes to beat Nancy to death and accidentally hang himself after being haunted by her ghost. Monks is revealed to be Edward Leeford and Fagin is interred in Newgate prison. Others include Sykes' dog Bull's Eye.

Molloy (Samuel Beckett)

The title paralyzed writer rides a bicycle, falls in love with a woman named either Ruth or Benedict. Private Investigator Jacques Moran searches for that title character, steals a bike, and kills a man.

The Wilde Swans of Coole (William Butler Yeats)

The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away?

The Mysterious Stranger (Mark Twain)

Theodor, Seppi and Nikolaus meet Satan disguised as the Mysterious Stranger in the German town of Eseldorf. Ends with the quote "[T]here is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream - a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought - a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"

The Knight's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Theseus defeats Creon at Thebes; Arcite dies after winning tournament for the hand of Hippolyta's sister Emily and his cousin Palamon marries her. Inspired by Boccaccio's Teseida.

The Peace (Aristophanes)

Trygaeus, a middle-aged Athenian, brings peace in the Peloponnesian War, by riding a giant dung beetle to confront War, after all other Gods have left. He marries Harvest, a companion of Festival and Peace. It was written just days before the Peace of Nicias.

Maud Muller (John Greenleaf Whittier)

This poem recounts the separated love of the title character and the judge. It describes "It might have been" as the saddest words "of tongue or pen".

True Story of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)

Thomas Curnow relays story of metal-plate-wearing bandit's shoot-out at the Glenrowan Hotel

The Iceman Cometh (Eugene O'Neill)

Traveling salesman Theodore "Hickey" Hickman visits Harry Hope's saloon. He advocates that all the patrons should abandon drinking and "pipe-dreams". Hickey reveals he murdered his wife Evelyn to save her from himself, but realizes his insanity as he is arrested by detectives Moran and Lieb. Characters include: friends General Piet Wetjoen and Captain Cecil Lewis who fought against each other in the Boer War but are now good friends; Joe Mott, a former casino proprietor; James Cameron, a former Boer War correspondent who is nicknamed "Jimmy Tomorrow" for daydreaming about getting his job back tomorrow; anarchists Larry Slade and Hugo Kalmer; Don Parritt, who kills himself after facing the truth that he turned in his anarchist mother; Harvard grad Willie Oban; and prostitutes Pearl, Margie, and Cora, as well as their pimping night bartender Rocky Pioggi.

Treatise on the Art of War (Niccolo Machiavelli)

Treatise on warfare sharing a title with work by Sun Tzu

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Thomas Keneally)

Title Aborigine explodes with rage at racism in Australia and kills Healy and Newby families before converting to Christianity.

Schindler's Ark (Thomas Keneally)

Title character saves Polish Jews and interacts with Amon Goeth, commandant of labor camp outside town Plaszów. Won Booker Prize in 1983 and adapted into Best Picture film by Steven Spielberg

The Reeve's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Told by Oswald the reeve, miller Simkin steals grain from scholars John and Alan, who spend the night at his house and sleep with his wife and daughter Malyne.

The Tale of Melibee [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Told by a fictive Chaucer, Melibee forgives 3 enemies who beat his wife Prudence and killed his daughter Sophie. Intentionally boring as revenge for the interruption of his Tale of Sir Thopas.

The Tale of Sir Thopas [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Told by a fictive Chaucer, Thopas desires elf-queen, but is waylaid by Sir Olifaunt. Tale is interrupted by Harry Bailey for its bad rhyme and boring story.)

The Glass Menagerie (Tennessee Williams)

Tom Wingfield recounts his faded southern belle mother Amanda Wingfield, who shares a St. Louis apartment with Tom and daughter Laura. Amanda urges Tom to find a partner for Laura, who suffers a limp from polio and drops out of high school and a secretarial course due to shyness. Tom's "Gentleman Caller" is Jim O'Connor, former star athlete and actor of Soldan High School. After Laura and Jim are left alone in a candlelit room, due to Tom saving money and not paying for power, Jim kisses her and breaks the horn of a glass unicorn, before revealing that he is already engaged.

The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot)

Tom and Maggie Tulliver live at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss at the River Ripple, near the town of St. Oggs. Maggie loves Philip Wakem, despite antipathy between their families, but is introduced by Lucy Deane to Steven Guest. Steven proposes marriage, but she rejects it and is exiled. She becomes obsessed with Thomas Kempis's The Imitation of Christ while in an exile. The Mill floods, and Tom and Maggie drown in a capsized rowboat.

Beowulf Translation (Seamus Heaney)

Translation of an Old English epic by Irish Nobel laureate.

The Second Coming (William Butler Yeats)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Idylls of the King (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Twelve narrative poems about King Arthur, dedicated to the deceased Albert, Prince Consort. It includes stories about Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, and Balin and Balan, and also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.

V. (Thomas Pynchon)

Two plotlines, one following Benny Profane and his adventures with New Yorker pseudo-intellectual bohemians the Whole Sick Crew, the other following Herbert Stencil.

Barbara Frietchie (John Greenleaf Whitter)

Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn, The clustered spires of Frederick stand Green-walled by the hills of Maryland. Round about them orchards sweep, Apple- and peach-tree fruited deep, Fair as a garden of the Lord To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain wall,— Over the mountains winding down, Horse and foot, into Frederick town. Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars, Flapped in the morning wind: the sun Of noon looked down, and saw not one. Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her fourscore years and ten; Bravest of all in Frederick town, She took up the flag the men hauled down; In her attic window the staff she set, To show that one heart was loyal yet. Up the street came the rebel tread, Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. Under his slouched hat left and right He glanced: the old flag met his sight. "Halt!"— the dust-brown ranks stood fast. "Fire!"— out blazed the rifle-blast. It shivered the window, pane and sash; It rent the banner with seam and gash. Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf; She leaned far out on the window-sill, And shook it forth with a royal will. "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country's flag," she said. A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, Over the face of the leader came; The nobler nature within him stirred To life at that woman's deed and word: "Who touches a hair of yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!" he said. All day long through Frederick street Sounded the tread of marching feet: All day long that free flag tost Over the heads of the rebel host. Ever its torn folds rose and fell On the loyal winds that loved it well; And through the hill-gaps sunset light Shone over it with a warm good-night. Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. Honor to her! and let a tear Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier. Over Barbara Frietchie's grave Flag of Freedom and Union, wave! Peace and order and beauty draw Round thy symbol of light and law; And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick town!

The Feast of the Goat (Mario Vargas Llosa)

Urania Cabral flees the Dominican Republic after being raped by Rafael Trujillo

The Wife of Bath's Tale [The Canterbury Tales] (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Used tricks to keep first 4 husbands in hand; married 5th for love, but after a fight he let her run everything; foul witch tells Arthur's knight what women most desire is sovereignty over husbands and makes him marry her; he gives her choice of beauty or fidelity and gets both

The Parliament of Fowls (Geoffrey Chaucer)

Valentine's Day courtship of formel eagle by three tercel eagle in the temple of Venus. Tour given by Scipio Africanus the Elder after author falls asleep at Cicero's Somnium Scipionis.

Mrs. Warren's Profession (George Bernard Shaw)

Vivie Warren dates Frank Gardner and discovers her mother runs brothels. While visiting Mr. Praed, she meets Sir George Crofts and later possible father Reverend Samuel Gardner.

A Raisin in the Sun (Lorraine Hansberry)

Walter and Ruth Younger, son Travis, Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and sister Beneatha, all live in a Chicago apartment where Walter works as a limo driver. Walter's father dies, and Mama gets a $10,000 insurance check. She gives Walter $6,500 to invest in liquor store with Bobo and Willy Harris, who steals it. Mama uses the rest on a down payment for a house in a white neighborhood, Clybourne Park. Karl Lindner, white neighborhood representative, offers to buy them out, but they reject him. Beneatha's boyfriend George Murchison rejects his African heritage, while Joseph Asagai gives her gifts from Africa, calls her Alaiyo, and compares straightened hair to mutilation, before inviting her to marry him and move to Nigeria to practice medicine. Proud of his heritage, Walter rejects the buy-out offer. Others include neighbor Mrs. Johnson.

Sweat (Zora Neale Hurston)

Washerwoman Delia is abused by husband Sykes. Exploiting her fear of snakes to be with portly mistress Bertha, Sykes hides a rattlesnake in her clothes, but poisons himself instead. Delia sits under a chinaberry tree ignoring his cries until he dies.

Vineland (Thomas Pynchon)

Zoyd Wheeler and daughter Prairie are forced into hiding from federal agent Brock Vond and DEA agent Hector Zuñiga. Prairie's wife Frenesi Gates earlier enrolled in People's Republic of Rock and Roll (PR³), loves Brock, and assassinates math professor Weed Atman.

Mother to Son (Langston Hughes)

Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now— For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Harlem (Langston Hughes)

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

Will Holloway and Jim Nightshade buy a lightning rod from salesman Tom Fury, and learn about the carnival called Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show, along with Will's dad Charles Holloway, library janitor. Seventh grade teacher Miss Foley is dazed from the mirror maze, and Cooger rides the merry-go-round to revert to twelve years old. The boys defeat the Dust Witch before being hypnotized by Mr. Dark, and Charles Holloway fights off the Dust Witch with laughter. He finds the boys in the mirror maze, kills the Dust Witch with a bullet on a bullet, and defeats Mr. Dark through laughter and happiness.

The Pathfinder (James Fenimore Cooper)

While heading for a fort on Lake Ontario, a party of Mabel Dunham, the old sailor Cap, and Indians Smashing Arrows and his wife June Dew meets Natty Bumppo, Chingachgook, and Jasper Uestornom. At the fort, Mabel's father Sergeant Dunham is wary of supposed traitor Jasper Weston. The fort is sieged at Sergeant Dunham dies. Mabel loves Jasper Weston and Natty Bumppo disappears into the woods.

Christabel (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

While praying in the woods, the title character meets Geraldine, a fair woman. Geraldine has an indescribable mark on her and cannot cross water. The title character's father Sir Leoline becomes entranced with Geraldine and leads a procession to take her home.

Tam O'Shanter (Robert Burns)

While riding home on horse Meg from a night of drinking, farmer Tam sees the witch "cutty sark" dancing at Alloway Kirk.

The Monkey Grammarian (Octavio Paz)

While serving as Mexico's ambassador to India, the author wrote this meditation on Hanuman, and a journey to Galta to visit his shrine.

Cakes and Ale (William Somerset Maugham)

William Ashenden is contacted by Alroy Kear, who is writing a biography of famous literary figure Edward Driffield at the behest of his second wife. His first wife, Rosie Driffield, leaves him, is a muse for the art world, and ultimately loves coal trader George Kemp.

The Devil and Tom Walker (Washington Irving)

William Kidd's treasure is buried in New England and is protected by the Devil Incarnate. Tom Walker converses with the Devil in the woods, disguised as Old Scratch, a lumberjack chopping at trees engraved with the names of townspeople. His wife attempts to deal with Old Scratch, but is killed, and Tom sells his soul to the Devil for wealth. He carries two Bibles with him as a successful usurer, but states "The Devil take me if I have made a farthing" and is abducted by Old Scratch.

In Cold Blood (Truman Capote)

With childhood friend Harper Lee, the author investigated the quadruple murder of the Herbert Cutter family by Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith in Holcomb, Kansas. Investigator Alvin Dewey leads the case, and this novel pioneered the true crime genre.

Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)

With sequels The Year of the Floor and MaddAddam, the novel follows Snowman, who lives with humanoid creatures Crakers, as he returns to the RejoovenEsence compound. As a child, Snowman was named Jimmy and lived at the HelthWyzer compound, befriending student Glenn, who goes by name Crake on online trivia game Extinctathon, and with whom Jimmy watches child porn. Glenn goes to Watson and Crick Institute, while Jimmy attends Martha Graham Academy. Jimmy helps Crake market Viagra pill BlyssPluss, when he sees Oryx, a prostitute he recognizes from the child porn, teaching Crake's mutant creatures the Crakers about sex. BlyssPluss causes a global pandemic, and Crake kills Oryx and is shot by Jimmy. Snowman wanders from the compound, cutting his foot on glass, and seeing a settled camp before checking his watch and saying "Time to go."

The Unconsoled (Kazuo Ishiguro)

World famous pianist Ryder develops amnesia before a concert on Thursday night in an Eastern European city. Others include suspected relatives Sophia and Boris, bellhop Gustave, and conductor Leo Brodsky.

The Masque of Anarchy (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Written about the Peterloo Massacre in Machester, 1819, the poem urges listeners to "Rise like lions after slumber / in unvanquishable number," as "Ye are many--they are few." It criticizes Lord Sidmouth and Viscount Castlereagh, saying that they lead in fraud and hypocrisy.

Rootabaga Stories (Carl Sandburg)

Written for daughters Margaret, Janet and Helga, whom he nicknamed "Spink", "Skabootch" and "Swipes", a collection of American fairy tales told by Potato Face Blind Man, an old minstrel of the Village of Liver-and-Onions who hangs out in front of the local post office with an accordion. Includes "Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger"

The Prince (Niccolo Machiavelli)

Written to counsel Lorenzo di Medici, this manual for rulers advises that it is better to be loved than feared, categorizes men such as Cesare Borgia and Septimus Severus as lions and foxes, and compares fortune to a flooding river and a woman who must be controlled. It cautions against mercenaries and flatterers, advises that generosity may produce extreme poverty. Supposedly written in nightly four-hour sessions between reading classical texts, it has often been compared to the Indian Arthashastra. Other rulers mentioned include Moses, Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, and Maximilian I.

Daddy (Sylvia Plath)

You do not do, you do not do Any more, black shoe In which I have lived like a foot For thirty years, poor and white, Barely daring to breathe or Achoo. Daddy, I have had to kill you. You died before I had time— Marble-heavy, a bag full of God, Ghastly statue with one gray toe Big as a Frisco seal And a head in the freakish Atlantic Where it pours bean green over blue In the waters off beautiful Nauset. I used to pray to recover you. Ach, du. In the German tongue, in the Polish town Scraped flat by the roller Of wars, wars, wars. But the name of the town is common. My Polack friend Says there are a dozen or two. So I never could tell where you Put your foot, your root, I never could talk to you. The tongue stuck in my jaw. It stuck in a barb wire snare. Ich, ich, ich, ich, I could hardly speak. I thought every German was you. And the language obscene An engine, an engine Chuffing me off like a Jew. A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen. I began to talk like a Jew. I think I may well be a Jew. The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna Are not very pure or true. With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack I may be a bit of a Jew. I have always been scared of you, With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo. And your neat mustache And your Aryan eye, bright blue. Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You— Not God but a swastika So black no sky could squeak through. Every woman adores a Fascist, The boot in the face, the brute Brute heart of a brute like you. You stand at the blackboard, daddy, In the picture I have of you, A cleft in your chin instead of your foot But no less a devil for that, no not Any less the black man who Bit my pretty red heart in two. I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die And get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do. But they pulled me out of the sack, And they stuck me together with glue. And then I knew what to do. I made a model of you, A man in black with a Meinkampf look And a love of the rack and the screw. And I said I do, I do. So daddy, I'm finally through. The black telephone's off at the root, The voices just can't worm through. If I've killed one man, I've killed two— The vampire who said he was you And drank my blood for a year, Seven years, if you want to know. Daddy, you can lie back now. There's a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

Emma (Jane Austen)

[Unfinished] Emma Woodhouse attends wedding of former governess Miss Taylor to Mr. Weston, and decides to be a matchmaker. Back at Hartfield with her father, Emma ignores advice of Mr. Knightley and tries to match Harriet Smith to Mr. Elton. On Emma's advice, Harriet refuses marriage with Robert Martin