Chance (1914) was the first of Conrad's novels to bring him popular success and it holds a unique place among his works. It tells the story of Flora de Barral, a vulnerable and abandoned young girl who is "like a beggar, without a right to anything but compassion." After her bankrupt father is imprisoned, she learns the harsh fact that a woman in her position "has no resources but in herself." Her only means of action is to be what she is. Flora's...

Katherine Anne Porter's first and only novel is a masterful allegory of the passions and prejudices that sparked World War II August 1931. An ocean liner bound for Germany sets out from the Mexican port city of Veracruz. The ship's first-class passengers include an idealistic young American painter and her lover; a Spanish dance troupe with a sideline in larceny; an elderly German couple and their fat, seasick bulldog; and a boisterous band of Cuban...

The 'Seven Seas' is a bitter, disillusioned series of poems centered on Britain's role in colonialism and Empire building. With reverberating lyrics and powerful imagery, Kipling writes of the ruthless means that were often employed to add nations to the glorious Empire, and the subsequent effects upon these colonized nations. Though disturbing and unsettling in theme, Kipling's lyrical dexterity makes these poems strangely compelling reading.

"Timon of Athens" was first, published in the "First Folio" in 1623 and was likely, written by William Shakespeare in 1605 or 1606. Often regarded as one of the more difficult of Shakespeare's plays to categorize, "Timon of Athens" blends elements of comedy with components of tragedy in Timon's allegorical downfall and death. The play depicts an Athenian man, Timon, who is popular and wealthy and who selflessly gives away his possessions to a large...

Gerald Arbuthnot receives a promotion from Lord Illingworth, a worldly politician who has a sordid history of women, one of whom is Gerald's widowed mother. When their connection is revealed, the young man questions his past, present and future aspirations. A Woman of No Importance opens with a high-class party featuring a group of society's most illustrious citizens. In the midst of the event, Gerald Arbuthnot enters and announces his new position...

From the creator of Charlie Chan! Set in England at the outbreak of WWI, The Agony Column is a murder mystery and romance told mostly through the device of an "Agony Column" in the newspaper (what Americans would call the "Personals").

An einem Septembermorgen des Jahres 1824 begibt sich Heinrich Heine auf eine Wanderung, die ihn quer durch den Harz bis nach Jena führt. Der Bericht über diese Wanderung gehört zu den Klassikern der Reiseliteratur. Heine vermischt hier auf meisterliche Weise Naturbeschreibung und satirische Gesellschaftskritik.

The Rescue, A Romance of the Shallows (1920) is one of Joseph Conrad's works contained in what is now sometimes called the Lingard Trilogy, a group of novels based on Conrad's experience as mate on the steamer Vidar. Although it was the last of the three novels to be published, after Almayer's Folly (1895) and An Outcast of the Islands (1896), the events related in the novel precede those. The story follows Captain Tom Lingard, the recurring protagonist...

Excerpt: "The population of the civilized world to-day may be divided into two classes, -millionaires and those who would like to be millionaires. The rest are artists, poets, tramps, and babies-and do not count. Poets and artists do not count until after they are dead. Tramps are put in prison. Babies are expected to get over it. A few more summers, a few more winters-with short skirts or with down on their chins-they shall be seen burrowing with...

Ranald Macdonald's roots are in the forest of Ontario's easternmost county and his character was forged in the small Presbyterian church near his home. When he leaves to test his idealism and faith in the rough world of the lumber business, he brings pride to the minister's wife who was the model for his life. Met with international acclaim when published in 1901, The Man from Glengarry is a tale of courage and an exciting portrait of life in 19th-century...