Hard Times is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coketown may be partially based on 19th-century Preston.
Childhood is the first published novel by Leo Tolstoy, released under the initials L. N. in the November 1852 issue of the popular Russian literary journal The Contemporary. It is the first in a series of three novels and is followed by Boyhood and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was just twenty-three years old, the book was an immediate success, earning notice from other Russian novelists including Ivan Turgenev, who heralded the young Tolstoy as a major up-and-coming figure in Russian literature.
“The Aeneid” is considered by some to be one of the most important epic poems of all time. The story is as much one of the great epic hero, Aeneas, as it is of the foundation of the Roman Empire. Aeneas, a Trojan Prince who escapes after the fall of troy, travels to Italy to lay the foundations for what would become the great Roman Empire. Virgil’s “Aeneid” is a story of great adventure, war, love, and of the exploits of an epic hero. In the work Virgil makes his commentary on the state of Rome during the Rule of Augustus. It was a time that had been previously ravaged by civil wars and with the reign of Augustus order and peace had begun to be restored. That order had a price though. Many of the freedoms of the old Roman Republic had been lost under the new Imperialistic Rome. This loss of freedom and the debate over the virtues of a Roman Republic versus an Imperialistic Rome was central to Virgil’s time and is interwoven throughout the poetic narrative of “The Aeneid.” Virgil’s work forms the historical foundation for the argument of the empire over the republic as the best form of government. This edition is translated into English verse by John Dryden, includes an introduction by Harry Burton, and is printed on premium acid-free paper.
Cinq Semaines En Ballon（气球上的五星期） 立即阅读
Cinq semaines en ballon est un roman de Jules Verne, paru en 1863. Le roman est publié en édition in-18 le 31 janvier 1863 et a pour sous-titre Voyage de découvertes en Afrique par trois Anglais. La grande édition in-8o est mise en vente le 5 décembre 1865. Il s'agit du premier roman de Verne édité par Pierre-Jules Hetzel après le refus du Voyage en Angleterre et en Écosse. Verne y met au point les « ingrédients » de son œuvre à venir, mêlant avec habileté une intrigue féconde en aventures et en rebondissements de toutes sortes et des descriptions techniques, géographiques et historiques.
清代长篇小说，云阳嗤嗤道人著。现藏哈佛大学图书馆。小说叙明朝嘉靖年间，宁波乡宦之子祝琼与五位美女的姻缘情事。故事情节曲折动人，于男女情事的描写则细腻有加，极至处令人侧目。《五凤吟》四卷二十回，现存草闲堂刊本，题“云阳嗤嗤道人编著”，“古越苏潭道人评定”，亦题“步月主人订”。首卷有“引场细事”。现藏大连图书馆。又凤吟楼刊本，题“新续刻六才子书”，四卷二十回，藏哈佛大学、日本浅草文库。又稼史轩刊本，内封右栏偏上署“步月主人订”，中栏题“五凤吟”，左栏偏下镌“稼史斋藏板”，四卷二十回，藏北京图书馆。又清末石印袖珍本，题“绣像素梅姐全传”。本书载于日本宝历甲戌（乾隆十九年，一七五四年）《舶载书目》 ，由此断定书约写成于乾隆十九年前。