Classics
8 histoires
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) par CharlesDickens
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
CharlesDickens
  • LECTURES 360,815
  • Votes 4,756
  • Parties 46
The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife. Cover art done by @orangedusk
Emma (1815) par JaneAusten
Emma (1815)
JaneAusten
  • LECTURES 1,391,570
  • Votes 14,734
  • Parties 55
Emma Woodhouse, aged 20 at the start of the novel, is a young, beautiful, witty, and privileged woman in Regency England. She lives on the fictional estate of Hartfield in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her elderly widowed father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma's friend and only critic is the gentlemanly George Knightley, her neighbour from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and the brother of her elder sister Isabella's husband, John. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr. Weston, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking.
Great Expectations (1861) par CharlesDickens
Great Expectations (1861)
CharlesDickens
  • LECTURES 1,399,343
  • Votes 12,015
  • Parties 60
On Christmas Eve, around 1812, Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles, from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships from which they escaped...
Little Women (1880) par LouisaMayAlcott
Little Women (1880)
LouisaMayAlcott
  • LECTURES 677,999
  • Votes 15,881
  • Parties 47
"Little Women" follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters.
A Midsummer Night's Dream par WilliamShakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
WilliamShakespeare
  • LECTURES 155,518
  • Votes 3,375
  • Parties 10
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.
Wuthering Heights (1847) par EmilyBronte
Wuthering Heights (1847)
EmilyBronte
  • LECTURES 1,978,946
  • Votes 21,507
  • Parties 34
Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.
Dracula (1897) par BramStoker
Dracula (1897)
BramStoker
  • LECTURES 346,522
  • Votes 6,784
  • Parties 27
Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, "Dracula" tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
Pride and Prejudice (1813) par JaneAusten
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
JaneAusten
  • LECTURES 10,257,889
  • Votes 219,058
  • Parties 61
The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.