As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.
Fruits of Culture, aka The Fruits of Enlightenment, (1889-90, pub. 1891) is a play by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It satirizes the persistence of unenlightened attitudes towards the peasants amongst the Russian landed aristocracy. In 1891 Constantin Stanislavski achieved success when he directed the play for his Society of Art and Literature organization.
"Tea-table Talk" is an imaginary conversation between the writer and a number of un-named characters at the afternoon tea table. The Woman of the World, the Old Maid, the Girton Girl, the Philosopher and the Minor Poet wax lyrical on subjects like marriage, art, society and politics.
The Romance of Lust（欲望的浪漫） 立即阅读
The Romance of Lust, or Early Experiences is a Victorian erotic novel written anonymously in four volumes during the years 1873–1876 and published by William Lazenby. Henry Spencer Ashbee discusses this novel in one of his bibliographies of erotic literature. In addition the compilers of British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books list this book.
The First Distiller（托尔斯泰著戏剧） 立即阅读
CHARACTERS A PEASANT. { WIFE. HIS { MOTHER. { GRANDFATHER. { LITTLE DAUGHTER. A NEIGHBOUR. FOUR VILLAGE ELDERS. OLD WOMEN, WOMEN, GIRLS AND LADS. THE CHIEF OF THE DEVILS. HIS SECRETARY. A DANDY IMP. THE OFFICIALS' IMP. THE PEASANTS' IMP. SENTINELS, DOORKEEPERS AND IMPS.
The Battle of Life（人生的战斗） 立即阅读
The Battle of Life: A Love Story is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in 1846. It is the fourth of his five "Christmas Books", coming after The Cricket on the Hearth and followed by The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. The setting is an English village that stands on the site of an historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. Battle is the only one of the five Christmas Books that has no supernatural or explicitly religious elements.
Sea and Sardinia is a travel book by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It describes a brief excursion undertaken in January 1921 by Lawrence and Frieda, his wife a.k.a. Queen Bee, from Taormina in Sicily to the interior of Sardinia. They visited Cagliari, Mandas, Sorgono, and Nuoro. His visit to Nuoro was a kind of homage to Grazia Deledda but involved no personal encounter. Despite the brevity of his visit, Lawrence distils an essence of the island and its people that is still recognisable today.
The Observations of Henry（亨利的观察） 立即阅读
The Observations of Henry is a delightful anthology of short stories. Some are witty. Some are downright humorous. Others have a touch of appealing pathos. And yet others just stir the imagination towards thinking of the more romantic side of life in 19th century Britain. The stories are cleverly linked as chapters from the reminiscences of a waiter who is analogous to the good old English butler. This is bedtime reading at its best.
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Charles Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness.
Doctor Marigold, named for the man who delivered him, is a "cheap-jack" who hawks sundries from a traveling cart he inhabits with his wife and his daughter Sophy. The mother beats Sophy, but Marigold, feeling powerless, does nothing to stop her. When the child dies of a fever, her guilt-wracked mother commits suicide.