Description Antony and Cleopatra begins two years after Julius Ceasar . Mark Antony was supposed to be in Egypt to conduct government affairs on behalf of the Roman Empire. Instead, he fell in love with the beautiful Queen Cleopatra, became her lover, and abandoned his duties to his wife and country. A messenger arrives bearing news that Antony’s wife and brother are dead after attempting to kill Octavius Caesar, and one of Ceasar’s generals, Pompey, is gathering an army against the Roman
Description In the Italian city of Padua, a young gentleman named Lucentio comes to study at one of the city’s colleges. As is often the fate of men in Shakespeare’s plays, Lucentio falls in love at first sight. The object of his affection, Bianca, is the beautiful and docile daughter of a rich merchant. Her father, Baptista Minola, has declared that no one can marry Bianca until her older sister Katharina has been married first. Katharina is the polar opposite of her sister: vicious,
Description A Man Could Stand Up— opens on Armistice Day, with Valentine Wannop learning that her love, Christopher Tietjens, has returned to London from the front. As she prepares to meet him, the narrative suddenly shifts time and place to earlier in the year, with Tietjens commanding a group of soldiers in a trench somewhere in the war zone. Tietjens leads his company bravely as they shelter from the constant German strafes, before the narrative again jumps to conclude with an actual
Description Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the most influential American writer of the twentieth century. Though known mostly for his longer works, he began his writing career with the publication of short stories which helped develop his often-imitated concise, simple, and straightforward style, which stood in stark contrast to the more elaborate prose of many of his contemporaries. In 1947, during a University of Mississippi creative writing class, William Faulkner remarked that Hemingway “has
Description Winnie-the-Pooh is a bear that likes honey perhaps a little too much and lives in the Hundred Acre Wood with his animal friends Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo, as well as his people friend Christopher Robin. Winnie-the-Pooh contains several stories of adventures involving Pooh and his friends, including a birthday party, looking for heffalumps, finding a missing tail, and playing a trick on one of their own. Most of them, of course, also involve honey in one way or
Description The Sun Also Rises was Ernest Hemingway’s first published novel, and the novel that introduced the term “Lost Generation” to describe the generation that came to adulthood during World War I. The novel follows Jake Barnes, an American expat living in the Parisian café society of the roaring 20s. A wound sustained during the war has left him unable to have sex, and that drives a wedge between him and the woman he loves: Brett Ashley, a twice-divorcée who has embraced the sexual
Description Soldiers’ Pay is William Faulkner’s first published novel. It begins with a train journey on which two American soldiers, Joe Gilligan and Julian Lowe, are returning from the First World War. They meet a scarred, lethargic, and withdrawn fighter pilot, Donald Mahon, who was presumed dead by his family. The novel continues to focus on Mahon and his slow deterioration, and the various romantic complications that arise upon his return home. Faulkner drew inspiration for this novel from
Description The baby of an English aristocratic family becomes orphaned in the equatorial African jungle, and is raised by apes. As he grows up he discovers he is human, and very different from his anthropoid companions. He learns and develops human traits, yet retains his primitive skills and physical prowess. As he comes into contact with other humans, conflict, adventure, wonder, and triumph result. To those he encounters, Tarzan becomes a symbol of the natural man, contrasting with the
Description Goodwill in the seventeenth century Polish Commonwealth has been stretched thin due to the nobility’s perceived and real oppression of the less well-off members. When the situation reaches its inevitable breaking point, it sparks the taking up of arms by the Cossacks against the Polish nobility and a spiral of violence that engulfs the entire state. This background provides the canvas for vividly painted narratives of heroism and heartbreak of both the knights and the hetmans swept
Description In a small Mormon community in southern Utah, Jane Withersteen, a young, unmarried Mormon woman faces growing pressure to marry a local elder of her church. Elder Tull, a polygamist, already has two wives and seeks to marry Jane not just for her beauty, but to take control of the ranch her late father passed on to her. Jane’s resistance to marriage only serves to increase the mounting resentment against “Gentiles” (non-Mormons) in the area. Bern Venters, one of Jane Withersteen’s
Description Antony and Cleopatra begins two years after Julius Ceasar . Mark Antony was supposed to be in Egypt to conduct government affairs on behalf of the Roman Empire. Instead, he fell in love with the beautiful Queen Cleopatra, became her lover, and abandoned his duties to his wife and country. A messenger arrives bearing news that Antony’s wife and brother are dead after attempting to kill Octavius Caesar, and one of Ceasar’s generals, Pompey, is gathering an army against the Roman
Description In the Italian city of Padua, a young gentleman named Lucentio comes to study at one of the city’s colleges. As is often the fate of men in Shakespeare’s plays, Lucentio falls in love at first sight. The object of his affection, Bianca, is the beautiful and docile daughter of a rich merchant. Her father, Baptista Minola, has declared that no one can marry Bianca until her older sister Katharina has been married first. Katharina is the polar opposite of her sister: vicious,
Description A Man Could Stand Up— opens on Armistice Day, with Valentine Wannop learning that her love, Christopher Tietjens, has returned to London from the front. As she prepares to meet him, the narrative suddenly shifts time and place to earlier in the year, with Tietjens commanding a group of soldiers in a trench somewhere in the war zone. Tietjens leads his company bravely as they shelter from the constant German strafes, before the narrative again jumps to conclude with an actual
Description Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the most influential American writer of the twentieth century. Though known mostly for his longer works, he began his writing career with the publication of short stories which helped develop his often-imitated concise, simple, and straightforward style, which stood in stark contrast to the more elaborate prose of many of his contemporaries. In 1947, during a University of Mississippi creative writing class, William Faulkner remarked that Hemingway “has
Description Winnie-the-Pooh is a bear that likes honey perhaps a little too much and lives in the Hundred Acre Wood with his animal friends Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo, as well as his people friend Christopher Robin. Winnie-the-Pooh contains several stories of adventures involving Pooh and his friends, including a birthday party, looking for heffalumps, finding a missing tail, and playing a trick on one of their own. Most of them, of course, also involve honey in one way or
Description The Sun Also Rises was Ernest Hemingway’s first published novel, and the novel that introduced the term “Lost Generation” to describe the generation that came to adulthood during World War I. The novel follows Jake Barnes, an American expat living in the Parisian café society of the roaring 20s. A wound sustained during the war has left him unable to have sex, and that drives a wedge between him and the woman he loves: Brett Ashley, a twice-divorcée who has embraced the sexual
Description Soldiers’ Pay is William Faulkner’s first published novel. It begins with a train journey on which two American soldiers, Joe Gilligan and Julian Lowe, are returning from the First World War. They meet a scarred, lethargic, and withdrawn fighter pilot, Donald Mahon, who was presumed dead by his family. The novel continues to focus on Mahon and his slow deterioration, and the various romantic complications that arise upon his return home. Faulkner drew inspiration for this novel from
Description The baby of an English aristocratic family becomes orphaned in the equatorial African jungle, and is raised by apes. As he grows up he discovers he is human, and very different from his anthropoid companions. He learns and develops human traits, yet retains his primitive skills and physical prowess. As he comes into contact with other humans, conflict, adventure, wonder, and triumph result. To those he encounters, Tarzan becomes a symbol of the natural man, contrasting with the
Description Goodwill in the seventeenth century Polish Commonwealth has been stretched thin due to the nobility’s perceived and real oppression of the less well-off members. When the situation reaches its inevitable breaking point, it sparks the taking up of arms by the Cossacks against the Polish nobility and a spiral of violence that engulfs the entire state. This background provides the canvas for vividly painted narratives of heroism and heartbreak of both the knights and the hetmans swept
Description In a small Mormon community in southern Utah, Jane Withersteen, a young, unmarried Mormon woman faces growing pressure to marry a local elder of her church. Elder Tull, a polygamist, already has two wives and seeks to marry Jane not just for her beauty, but to take control of the ranch her late father passed on to her. Jane’s resistance to marriage only serves to increase the mounting resentment against “Gentiles” (non-Mormons) in the area. Bern Venters, one of Jane Withersteen’s