The Bell
1) Ghosts
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First performed in 1882, "Ghosts" is the controversial and tragic play by the famed Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is the story of Helen Alving, a wealthy widow who was unhappily married to her unfaithful husband. Helen has tried to shelter her son, Oswald, from the corrupting influence of his father's immoral behavior and has sent him away only to discover that he is suffering from syphilis inherited from his father. Oswald has also unfortunately...
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Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...
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The Grand Inquisitor is a poem (a story within a story) inside Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880). It is recited by Ivan Karamazov, who questions the possibility of a personal and benevolent God, to his brother Alexei (Alyosha), a novice monk. "The Grand Inquisitor" is an important part of the novel and one of the best-known passages in modern literature because of its ideas about human nature and freedom, and its fundamental...
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In this representative volume, "The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories" the reader will find twenty-four of Mark Twain's best shorter works. Classic and unforgettable tales that span the author's career are included, such as "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which is Twain's most famous short story and was his first great success as an author. It is the unforgettable tale of Jim Smiley, the gambler who will bet on anything including...
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First published in 1862 after Dostoyevsky's imprisonment in a Siberian labor camp, "The House of the Dead" is a collection of memoirs, related by themes, that portrays the horrific life of convicts. The author drew on his own experiences in prison to depict the squalor, destitution, and severity of a Siberian camp with remorseless detail. Dostoyevsky reveals the characters of many of the other convicts, which includes the depravity many have come...
6) Uncle Vanya
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Uncle Vanya (1898) is a four-act play by Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1899, directed by acclaimed actor Konstantin Stanislavski-who also played the role of Astrov. Reviews were lukewarm at first, but as the play continued to run, Uncle Vanya gained both popularity and critical prowess, and has since become one of the most influential dramas ever produced.
When retired...
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Regarded as one of the foremost playwrights of the nineteenth century, Ibsen tells the story of the idealist Doctor Thomas Stockmann, the medical officer of a recently opened spa in a small town in southern Norway, who finds that the water is seriously contaminated. He notifies members of the community and initially receives support and thanks for the discovery. Threatened by the possible impact of such a revelation, his brother, the town mayor, conspires...
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The Waste Land is a long poem by T. S. Eliot. It is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central text in Modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form in December 1922. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruelest month", "I will...
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"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen is a groundbreaking and thought-provoking masterpiece that challenges societal norms and explores the complex dynamics of marriage and identity. Set in 19th-century Norway, the play revolves around Nora Helmer, a seemingly content wife and mother, and her husband Torvald.
As the plot unfolds, the audience is drawn into a web of secrets, lies, and personal revelations. Nora's journey from a docile, doll-like existence...
10) Cape Cod
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Robert Pinsky is Professor of English at Boston University and an editor of the weekly online magazine Slate. He is the author of many books of poetry and literary criticism. He served two terms as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1997-2000.
This new paperback edition of Henry D. Thoreau's compelling account of Cape Cod contains the complete, definitive text of the original. Introduced by American poet...
11) Excursions
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First published in 1863, 'Excursions' is a collection of essays by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. It contains nine essays in total, as well as a biographical sketch of Thoreau by fellow transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. The essays are: 'Natural History of Massachusetts', 'A Walk to Wachusett', 'The Landlord', 'A Winter Walk', 'The Succession of Forest Trees', 'Walking', 'Autumnal Tints', 'Wild Apples', and 'Night and Moonlight'....
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The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902) is a children's book by L. Frank Baum. Although less popular than his influential Wizard of Oz series-fourteen novels that inspired the classic 1939 film-The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus has been adapted as a graphic novel and into multiple animated films. A sequel short story, "A Kidnapped Santa Claus," appeared in 1904.
Discovered as a baby in the Forest of Burzee by Ak, the Master Woodsman of...
13) The Devil's Pool
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Two years after his wife's death, Germain is encouraged to move on and find a new woman and home to accommodate his three growing children. He travels to visit a single woman who is eager to start a new family.
Following his daughter's death, Père Maurice has provided constant support for his son-in-law Germain. But after two years, he pushes him to find a new wife. Germain is a young man with three children in need of a mother. Maurice sends him...
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The arrival of Karsten Bernick's brother-in-law leads to a series of revelations, exposing a tumultuous history that could destroy his marriage and thriving business empire. To ensure his future, Karsten goes to great lengths to protect his secrets.
Karsten Bernick is a successful businessman and prominent figure in a small Norwegian town. While planning his next big venture, he is startled by the arrival of his brother-in-law, Johan Tønnesen. Johan...
15) The Lifted Veil
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The Lifted Veil's sickly narrator, Latimer, believes himself to be cursed with the ability to see the future and sense the thoughts and feelings of those around him. Disgusted by what he sees in the minds of others, he accepts that he will lead an unobtrusive life, constantly overshadowed by his more vigorous elder brother. That is, until he meets and becomes fascinated with Bertha, his brother's beautiful and coquettish fiancée.
The Lifted Veil...
16) The Wild Duck
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Written in 1884 and first performed in 1885, "The Wild Duck", by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, is the first modern tragicomedy to be embraced by critics and audiences alike. The play, titled "Vilanden" in its original Norwegian, is widely considered one of Ibsen's most well-written plays. The story centers around the secrets and dramas of the Ekdal family, who live a dysfunctional life in purposeful denial of the many skeletons that lurk in their...
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Three novellas that brilliantly portray English country and clergy life at the turn of the nineteenth century from the author of Middlemarch.
Initially appearing in Blackwood's Magazine, this trio of linked stories comprises George Eliot's first published work. Together they form a portrait of small-town life in Midlands, England, where changes are affecting both society at large and religious beliefs and institutions.
In "The Sad Fortunes...
18) Silas Marner
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This classic novel takes place in Lantern Yard, a slum street in an unnamed city in Northern England, during the early 19th century. There, Silas Marner, a weaver and a member of a small Calvinist congregation, is falsely accused of stealing the congregation's funds while watching over their very ill deacon. Two pieces of evidence are against Silas: his possession of a pocket knife and the bag that formerly contained the money. Although there is also...
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Every day, discover an amazing Christmas tale!Written by the greatest storytellers (Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, François Coppee, Susan Coolidge...), these 35 traditional stories will keep you waiting until D-day. This collection is divided among stories for young children and older ones. Each story is fraught with the true Christmas spirit. If you like Christmas storybooks then simply get this one!
20) Uncle's Dream
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The story "Uncle's Dream" was written by Dostoyevsky after a five-year exile in Siberia and covers the tale of a provincial family desperate to better itself through a marriage of their daughter to a senile prince. The old man is hoodwinked and almost forced into a wedding that is expected to last for a short period before he dies and leaves his fortune to the young girl. There are complications however with the young girl Zina already in love with...