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Faithful family employee Thady Quirk recounts the decline, over four generations, of the Rackrent family. Through gambling, hapless litigation, and general extravagance the Rackrent's ruin is accomplished, but Thady is steadfast in defence of his masters.
With the short novel Castle Rackrent, Maria Edgeworth is said to have originated a number of literary genres and subgenres, including the historical novel, the Anglo-Irish novel and the "Big House"...
2) Daisy Miller
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First published in "Cornhill Magazine" in 1878, "Daisy Miller" is Henry James' novella, which concerns the courtship of its titular character, the beautiful young American girl Daisy Miller. While travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy is taken by the delightfulness of the continent, which unlike her brother, she finds superior to their hometown of Schenectady, New York. Her brother introduces her to Frederick Winterbourne, whom she agrees to...
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First published in England in 1791 and the United States in 1794, Susanna Rowson's "Charlotte Temple" was America's first best-selling novel. The story is an example of the seduction novel genre, which was wildly popular in early American literature and focuses on the dangers to young ladies of being seduced by unscrupulous men. In Rowson's novel, the main character is Charlotte Temple, a lovely and naïve young British girl who falls for the overwhelming...
4) Germinal
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Originally published in serial form in 1884 to 1885, "Germinal" is Émile Zola's realistic depiction of the coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s. In this faithful translation from the original French by Havelock Ellis, the story centers on Étienne Lantier, a young migrant worker who arrives at the coalmining town of Montsou in search of work. Set against a backdrop of extreme poverty and oppression, "Germinal" is the story of the idealistic...
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Idylls of the King (1859-1885) is a cycle of narrative poems by British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written while Tennyson was serving as Poet Laureate, Idylls of the King reworks the medieval Arthurian legend in blank verse and with an elegiac tone. Based on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and the early British Mabinogion manuscripts, Tennyson's work connects an ancient tradition to the reign and ideals of Queen Victoria.
"The Coming of Arthur"...
6) The Bacchae
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Euripides turned to playwriting at a young age, achieving his first victory in the Athens' City Dionysia dramatic competitions in 441 BC. He would be awarded this honor three more times in his life, and once more posthumously. His plays are often ironic, pessimistic, and display radical rejection of classical decorum and rules. In 408 BC, Euripides left war-torn Athens for Macedonia, upon the invitation of King Archelaus, and there he spent his last...
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When tragedy strikes on his son's wedding day, Lord Manfred believes it is a foreboding omen, and will do whatever it takes to stop it-no matter how immoral.
Set in the 18th century, The Castle of Otranto begins on the day Manfred's son, Conrad, was meant to be married. Known for his sickly nature, Conrad is the eldest child of two, and is set to marry Princess Isabella, a union that would reap strong benefits for the noble family. However, when...
8) Medea
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The influence of Euripides on the development of the dramatic genre cannot be overstated. Along with Sophocles and Aeschylus he is regarded as one of the three great Greek tragedians from classical antiquity. One of the most important of Euripides' surviving dramas is "Medea", the story of its title character, the wife of Jason of the Argonauts, who seeks revenge upon her unfaithful husband when he abandons her for a another bride. Set in Corinth...
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Mervyn begins to get sick, and fearing a forced trip to the hospital (a death trap), he decides to hide himself in the old Welbeck mansion. Welbeck leaves Mervyn to die, and Mervyn eventually wanders out into the street and collapses. Mervyn is, discovered by Dr. Stevens sitting on a bench. He is suffering from yellow fever, and since Dr. Stevens has pity on him, is, invited into the Stevens household.
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The Efficiency Expert is a 1921 short novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. One of a small number of Burroughs' novels set in contemporary America as opposed to a fantasy universe, The Efficiency Expert follows the adventures of Jimmy Torrance as he attempts to make a career for himself in 1921 Chicago. The book is remarkable for the criminal livelihoods of the hero's friends.
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First performed in 1773, "She Stoops to Conquer" is the timeless comedic drama by Anglo-Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. The play depicts the story of Charles Marlow, a wealthy young man who is promised in marriage to a woman, Kate Hardcastle that he has never met. While he is eager to meet her and is travelling to her home with his friend, George Hastings, Charles is quite shy in the company of women of wealth. He prefers those of a lower class and...
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Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1925) is nothing less than what the title holds it to be; it is the story of a weak-willed young man who is both villain and victim (the victim of a valueless, materialistic society) and someone who ultimately destroys himself. Dreiser modeled the story of Clyde Griffiths on a real-life murder that took place in 1906; a young social climber of considerable charm murdered his pregnant girlfriend to get her out...
14) Electra
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One of the lesser known plays of the Greek tragedian Sophocles, "Electra" tells the tale of a young daughter's revenge for her father's death. Electra is one of the daughters of "Agamemnon," the leader of the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was killed by his wife's lover, and Electra wishes to avenge Agamemnon with the help of her twin brother Orestes. When she receives word that he is dead, Electra laments and fears she will not be able to avenge...
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First published in 1799, Charles Brockden Brown's "Edgar Huntly, Or Memoirs of a Sleep Walker" is the story of its title character, who upon learning of the death of the brother of his friend and love interest, Mary Waldegrave, visits where he died in the woods in rural Pennsylvania. There he discovers a man, Clithero, a servant from a nearby farm, suspiciously lurking about near the scene of Waldegrave's murder. Suspecting Clithero, Edgar begins...
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The Mark of Zorro (1924) is a novel by Johnston McCulley. Originally published as, The Curse of Capistrano (1919), McCulley's novel was, rereleased to capitalize on the success of the 1920 silent film of the same name starring Douglas Fairbanks. Beloved by generations of readers and moviegoers alike, Zorro is, recognized as a symbol of justice and rebellion throughout the world. "Outside the wind shrieked and the rain dashed against the ground in...
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The first in a series of books about the Pepper family, these imaginative children's stories have delighted readers since their original publication in 1881. This first novel introduces Ben, Polly, Joel, Davie, and Phronsie, the children of their widowed Mamsie, Mrs. Pepper. While very poor, the Peppers live in a supportive little town in their beloved Little Brown House. The family faces many challenges, such as sickness and an overflowing generosity...
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Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century novel "The Vicar of Wakefield" was so popular in Victorian times that it is mentioned in many classics of that era including George Eliot's "Middlemarch," Jane Austen's "Emma," Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", amongst others. It is the story of Dr. Charles Primrose, the titular Vicar, his wife Deborah and their six children who live an idyllic life in a country parish. The Vicar...
20) Quicksand
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First published in 1928, "Quicksand" is the first novel by American author Nella Larsen. It is the semi-autobiographical tale of a young, mixed race woman who struggles to find her place in the world. Like her main character, Helga Crane, Larsen was the daughter of a Danish white mother and a West Indian black father who disappeared from her life as a baby. Larsen and the fictional Crane never feel that they belong in either the white world or the...
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