Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Fresque sociale qui décrit les conditions de vie des mineurs au XIXème siècle, Germinal est le treizième roman de la série des Rougon-Macquart. Le roman retrace la vie d'Etienne Lantier, jeune mineur amoureux de Catherine Maheu, et de son combat pour une société plus juste. (résumé par Nadine) Germinal is the main book in the series "Rougon-Macquart" and describes the inhumane conditions in French mines in the 19th century.

Humphrey Scriven is a fine, genial, mercantile man, left widowed to raise three daughters and a son. Two of the daughters marry well although happiness is not enduring. The other defers her marriage, knowing her father disapproves of her choice. The son is a disappointment to his father -- his character is not as generous or kind. However, in time, this son inherits the business, with the exception of a portion left to a trusted clerk, Mr. Hayley. But there is a secret side to Mr. Hayley and maybe he is not quite the right man to guide the novice merchant. The two part ways acrimoniously and ...

Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) wrote eighty-eight Encyclicals during his twenty-five year pontificate (1878-1903). Fifty-six of those are included in this collection.Among the topics covered are the Rosary, socialism, Christian marriage, labour, freemasonry, Church and state, human liberty, dueling, the Holy Eucharist, and more. (Summary by Maria Therese)

Dans ce septième livre, Jean de La Fontaine continue de dépeindre les travers des humains. Toutefois, l'approche littéraire se complexifie, le texte est généralement plus long que dans les livres précédents et le recours aux animaux le cède, dans huit de ces fables, à la mise en scène de l'homme lui-même.(Introduction de Jean Lambert)

Originally compiled by Cervantes himself in 1613 as a collection of "exemplary" stories, this translated version from 1881 brings these stories to the English reader. Included in the collection are twelve stories selected by Cervantes, including "A Deceitful Marriage," which famously transitions seamlessly and humorously into the "Dialogue Between Scipio and Berganze". (Summary by Tim Ferreira)

"Letters from Hell" is a didactic Christian fantasy novel, with a faint resemblance to C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." Otto, the narrator, has died in the prime of life. Through letters, he relates the torments and regrets that are a consequence of the self-centered and dissipated life he led in the world. He also describes the fates of other lost souls who inhabit Hell. (In this work, Hell is not the place of eternal torment, but the "holding area" until the final judgment.)There is also a preface written by George MacDonald. - Summary by TriciaG

Originally staged in the Teatro Español in 1901, Electra is a controversial Spanish drama that documents the trials and tribulations of its innocent heroine. Electra is a young woman of unknown parentage who is raised in a convent in France and, after the death of her mother Eleuteria, adopted by her aunt and uncle. Electra soon falls in love with the scientist Maximo, but an intricate web of rumors and lies threatens to ruin their relationship. In this play, Benito Pérez Galdós tackles a number of hot-button themes: fanaticism, superstition, social justice, rationalism, and the powers of ...

Olive Schreiner was a South African writer and intellectual born in 1855 to missionary parents in the Eastern Cape. She was one of the earliest campaigners for women's rights. She was also very critical of British Imperialism in her homeland and particularly of their racist policies against the Boers, Jews, Indians and the Black races of South Africa. As a result of her public support for the Boers, all her manuscripts and her house were burned during the Anglo-Boer War and she was interned in a concentration camp for several years.Her first novel "The Story of an African Farm" published in ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you eight recordings of "To A Skylark." This is the Fortnightly Poetry for August 8, 2014.To A Skylark was completed by Shelley in late June 1820. It was inspired by an evening walk in the country near Livorno, Italy, with his wife Mary Shelley, and describes the appearance and song of a skylark they come upon. (summary from Wikipedia)

The Canadian author Sara Jeannette Duncan (aka Mrs. Everard Cotes) is today best known for her 1904 novel of Ontario life, “The Imperialist” (also available as a LibriVox recording), but in Duncan’s own time readers were impressed more by her other works, including “A Daughter of Today,” published in 1894. “A Daughter of Today” follows the story of Elfrida Bell, a young woman who escapes the American Midwest to pursue first an artistic education in Paris, and then a novice career in journalism in London. As the novel’s title indicates, Elfrida is a product “of today,” i.e.,...

Populares cuentos de Perrault narrados para los niños, en los que aparecen mundos fantásticos: Hadas, ogros, personajes malvados. Todos ellos encierran alguna enseñanza y poder educativo. - Summary by Montse González

Giurista di formazione e docente universitario, Sighele contribuì con le sue opere ad approfondimenti in diverse discipline moderne, particolarmente e a livello internazionale in psicologia e criminologia, e può forse essere ancora oggi di stimolo per dibattiti contemporanei. Di riferimento furono le sue analisi del comportamento dell’essere umano in diversi contesti e della suggestione collettiva di cui può essere oggetto, dove si evidenzia come gli individui siano in grado di perdere alcune capacità che possiedono singolarmente - autocontrollo, empatia, razioncinio - quando facenti ...

Au cours d’une promenade, le comte Henri de Marsay, un dandy féroce investi d’un pouvoir qui lui permet de plier toute personne à sa volonté rencontre Paquita, une jeune femme d’une exceptionnelle beauté. A partir de cet instant, le comte n’aura de cesse de tenter de se l’approprier et lance une expédition pour l'enlever. Mais Paquita est jalousement gardée par la Marquise de San-Réal qui est follement amoureuse d’elle. Celle-ci finira par tuer sa maîtresse... La Fille aux yeux d’or est le troisième volet de l’Histoire des Treize qui regroupe Ferragus, La Duchesse de ...

Los auténticos cuentos de terror cuentan con algo más que un misterioso asesino, unos huesos ensangrentados o unos espectros agitando sus cadenas según la vieja regla. Pues debe respirarse en ellos una determinada atmósfera de expectación e inexplicable temor ante lo ignoto y el más allá. Deben estar presentes unas fuerzas desconocidas, la maligna y específica suspensión o la derrota de las leyes desde siempre vigentes de la Naturaleza, que representan nuestra única salvaguardia contra los asaltos del caos y los demonios del espacio insondable. Summary by Phileasfogg

Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), published in 1835, is widely considered to be Balzac's finest and most popular novel. It is set in Paris in 1819, after Napoleon's defeat and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. France was undergoing massive social upheaval, as the new bourgeoisie jockeyed for position alongside the old aristocracy. Against this backdrop, we follow the lives of Goriot, an old man who irrationally dotes on his daughters; Vautrin, a shadowy criminal mastermind; and Rastignac, a young man from the provinces who studies how to navigate the complexities and climb the ladder of ...

The lot of a younger son was less assured than his older brother in days gone by. It was worse for his descendant, especially if he wanted to marry above his means. Such is the case for young Ralph Woodhall. He is a scholar, but is not attracted by the usual professions. He wishes to make his name -- and fortune -- and win the hand of his love, Margaret. On a whim, the couple visit an astrologer, who tells them that, although there are many trials ahead, happiness will eventually be theirs. With this in mind, Ralph sets out on his adventures. - Summary by LynneT

Published in 1908, this is the story of two small families and the agreeable couple who help them. The heartfelt Norths, though clouded by disabilities, maintain the joy of life while struggling through sadness and loss. Their neighbours, the Austins, live comfortably if without much in the way of shared interest. As Eloise Wynne approaches to “bless” the Norths with her amiable fiancé, Doctor Allan Conrad, the two offspring in each family discover a hidden deception and how each parent, that they had grown up without, had met their fatal ends. - Summary by Daryl Wor

The first book in the 20-novel Rougon-Macquart Cycle. A monument of French naturalism. The sprawling tale of a family in Provence, during the Second Empire, the family that grew out of the liaisons between Adelaide Fouque and her husband Rougons, and the smuggler Macquart. - Summary by Mark Leder

Esta historia milenaria cuenta la seducción de una ingenua pastora, Adega, por un peregrino a quien ella identifica con Dios y del que asegura haber quedado embarazada. Quienes la escuchan la tienen por endemoniada, pero ella exhala encendida religiosidad, impregnada de fábulas y visiones, lo que supone el predominio de la imaginación sobre la dura y terrible realidad de la vida en las aldeas gallegas de ese momento. Flor de Santidad es una obra maestra de la novela breve, con todos los elementos lingüísticos y estilísticos que caracterizan la perfección de la escritura de su autor. - ...

Eugénie Grandet, first published in 1833, is one of Honoré de Balzac's finest novels, and one of the first works in what would become his large novel series titled La Comédie Humaine. Set in a provincial town in post-Revolutionary France, the story deals with money, avarice, love, and obsession. A wealthy old miser must manage the passion of his innocent daughter, who later has to navigate on her own the treacherous ways of a world in which money is "the only god." Balzac's meticulous use of psychological and physical detail influenced the development of 19th-century literary realism, in ...