Classics
27 stories
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (Completed) by FydorDostoevsky
FydorDostoevsky
  • WpView
    Reads 23,284
  • WpVote
    Votes 778
  • WpPart
    Parts 96
The Brothers Karamazov, also translated as The Karamazov Brothers, is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th-century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, judgment, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia, with a plot which revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.
THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (Completed) by ThomasHardy
ThomasHardy
  • WpView
    Reads 10,344
  • WpVote
    Votes 368
  • WpPart
    Parts 45
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rural England. Hardy began writing the book in 1884 and wrote the last page on 17 April 1885. Within the book, he writes that the events took place "before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span". Literary critic Dale Kramer sees it as being set somewhat later-in the late 1840s, corresponding to Hardy's youth in Dorchester.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) (Completed) by ThomasHardy
ThomasHardy
  • WpView
    Reads 85,370
  • WpVote
    Votes 2,461
  • WpPart
    Parts 59
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891 and in book form in 1892. Though now considered a major nineteenth-century English novel and possibly Hardy's fictional masterpiece, Tess of the d'Urbervilles received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual morals of late Victorian England.
PARADISE LOST (Completed) by johnmilton
johnmilton
  • WpView
    Reads 3,729
  • WpVote
    Votes 124
  • WpPart
    Parts 12
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608-1674). The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the verification. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men".
THE IRON HEEL (Completed) by jacklondon
jacklondon
  • WpView
    Reads 774
  • WpVote
    Votes 16
  • WpPart
    Parts 29
The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian" fiction, it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction novels and stories of the 1960s and '70s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes. The book is unusual among London's writings (and in the literature of the time in general) in being a first-person narrative of a woman protagonist written by a man. Much of the narrative is set in the San Francisco Bay Area, including events in San Francisco and Sonoma County.
THE LOST WORLD (Completed) by ArthurConanDoyle
ArthurConanDoyle
  • WpView
    Reads 17,398
  • WpVote
    Votes 633
  • WpPart
    Parts 17
The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. It was originally published serially in the popular Strand Magazine and illustrated by New-Zealand-born artist Harry Rountree during the months of April-November 1912. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures. Cover by the lovely @FaithMurri.
Frankenstein (1818) by MaryShelley
MaryShelley
  • WpView
    Reads 288,176
  • WpVote
    Votes 7,115
  • WpPart
    Parts 28
"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is about an eccentric scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
THE GOLDEN ROAD (Completed) by LMMontgomery
LMMontgomery
  • WpView
    Reads 4,238
  • WpVote
    Votes 157
  • WpPart
    Parts 35
The plot is based around the character Beverley who remembers his childhood days with his brother Felix and friends and cousins Felicity, Cecily, Dan, Sara Stanley (the "Story Girl"), hired-boy Peter and neighbor Sara Ray. The children often played in their family's orchard and had many adventures, even creating their own newspaper, called Our Magazine.
MOLL FLANDERS (Completed) by DanielDefoe
DanielDefoe
  • WpView
    Reads 2,588
  • WpVote
    Votes 62
  • WpPart
    Parts 22
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest and died a Penitent (commonly known simply as Moll Flanders) is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. The novel is based partially on the life of Moll King, a London criminal whom Defoe met while visiting Newgate Prison.
MIDDLEMARCH (Completed) by GeorgeEliot
GeorgeEliot
  • WpView
    Reads 5,688
  • WpVote
    Votes 240
  • WpPart
    Parts 88
Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by the English author George Eliot, first published in eight installments (volumes) during 1871-72. The novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829-32, and it comprises several distinct (though intersecting) stories and a large cast of characters. Significant themes include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Although containing comical elements, Middlemarch is a work of realism that refers to many historical events: the 1832 Reform Act, the beginnings of the railways, the death of King George IV, and the succession of his brother, the Duke of Clarence (the future King William IV). In addition, the work incorporates contemporary medical science and examines the deeply reactionary mindset found within a settled community facing the prospect of unwelcome change.