Showing results for "New Technologies" in Literature & Fiction

The Republic poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, and which ones should be fostered and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing?

War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men. As Napoleon's army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds.

In Virtual Vice by Jason M. Kays, readers follow disillusioned entertainment attorney Ian McKenzie as his professional life takes a decided turn for the questionable when he is hired by the charismatic and dangerous Scott White to represent Scott's interests in his cutting edge Internet startup, Metropoleis Multimedia. Unfortunately for Ian, Scott has more in common with Scarface's Tony Montana than Apple's Steve Jobs, and things go from questionable to deadly in no time flat. As Scott's confidant and consigliore, Ian soon finds himself caught between the Feds, La Cosa Nostra, and the Cali ...

Socrates is on trial for his life. He is charged with impiety and corrupting young people. He presents his own defense, explaining why he has devoted his life to challenging the most powerful and important people in the Greek world. The reason is that rich and famous politicians, priests, poets, and a host of others pretend to know what is good, true, holy, and beautiful, but when Socrates questions them, they are shown to be foolish rather than wise.

Dubrovsky is a young nobleman whose land is confiscated by a greedy and powerful aristocrat, Kirila Petrovitch Troekurov. Determined to get justice one way or another, Dubrovsky gathers a band of serfs and goes on the rampage, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Along the way, Dubrovsky falls in love with Masha, Troekurov's daughter, and lets his guard down, with tragic results. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

The Possessed, also called Demons, is Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel about life in Russia at the end of the 19th century. In this highly political novel, Dostoevsky portrays the revolutionaries as demons or devils as they plot ruin and eventually turn on each other. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

The Odyssey is the second - the Iliad being the first - masterpiece by Homer. The story of a long journey by the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, as he returns home after the Trojan War has been frequently published, staged, and filmed. This audio performance of the classic epic poem is comparable to the ancient method of travelling artists who sang their poems in hexameter.

The Interpretation of Dreams is a book by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The book introduces Freud's theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation, and also first discusses what would later become the theory of the Oedipus complex. Dreams, in Freud's view, are all forms of "wish fulfillment" attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort, whether something recent or something from the recesses of the past. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Dating to the ninth century BC, Homer's timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former student, lives in a tiny garret on the top floor of a run-down apartment building in St. Petersburg. He is sickly, dressed in rags, short on money, and talks to himself, but he is also handsome, proud, and intelligent. He is contemplating committing an awful crime, but the nature of the crime is not yet clear. Thus begins Crime and Punishment with all the twists and turns and philosophical questions that permeate Dostoyevsky's writing. A world classic! Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

A Common Story was the first of novel by Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov, a Russian novelist. This is an ageless - and predictable - story of the transformation of an idealistic young man from a small town into a rich and cold-hearted metropolitan.

Good-natured and garrulous, Švejk becomes the Austro-Hungarian army's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of the First World War - although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. This story of a "little man" caught in a vast bureaucratic machine combines dazzling wordplay and piercing satire to create a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from an asylum in Switzerland. As he becomes embroiled in the frantic amatory and financial intrigues that center around a cast of brilliantly realized characters and that ultimately lead to tragedy, he emerges as a unique combination of the Christian ideal of perfection and Dostoevsky's own views, afflictions, and manners. His serene selflessness is contrasted with the worldly qualities of every other character in the novel.

The Petty Demon is one of the funniest Russian novels. It is also the most decadent of the great Russian classics, replete with naked boys, sinuous girls, and a strange mixture of beauty and perversity. The main hero, Peredonov, is as comical as he is disgusting. He is at once a victim, a monster, a silly hypocrite, and a sadistic dullard. The plot moves from Peredonov's petty quest for a promotion to arson and murder via one of the most incredible and uproarious scandal scenes in world literature, the masquerade ball, which the boy Sasha attends as a beautiful geisha.

In 1851, at the age of 22, Tolstoy joined the Russian army. The four years he spent as a soldier were among the most significant in his life and inspired the tales collected here. In The Cossacks, Tolstoy tells the story of Olenin, a cultured Russian whose experiences among the Cossack warriors of Central Asia leave him searching for a more authentic life. In writing about individuals and societies in conflict, Tolstoy has penned some of the most brilliant stories about the nature of war.

This is the third book in the Childhood, Boyhood, Youth trilogy. Childhood was the first published novel by Leo Tolstoy, released in November 1852. It was the first in a series of three novels and was followed by Boyhood and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was just 23 years old, the book was an immediate success, earning notice from other Russian novelists including Ivan Turgenev, who heralded the young Tolstoy as a major up-and-coming figure in Russian literature. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

"A superbly atmospheric story set in the old Prague ghetto featuring the Golem, a kind of rabbinical Frankenstein's monster, which manifests itself every 33 years in a room without a door. Stranger still, it seems to have the same face as the narrator. This extraordinary book combines uncanny psychology of doppelganger stories with expressionism and more than a little melodrama...Meyrink's old Prague - like Dicken's London - is one of the great creations of City writing...." (Phil Baker in The Sunday Times)

When Arkady Petrovich returns home from college, his father finds his eager, naïve son changed almost beyond recognition, for the impressionable Arkady has fallen under the powerful influence of the friend he has brought home with him. A self-proclaimed nihilist, the ardent young Bazarov shocks Arkady's father with his determination to overthrow the traditional values of society. Vividly capturing the hopes and fears of a changing Russia in the 19th century, Fathers and Sons is Ivan Turgenev's masterpiece. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

A beautiful society wife from St. Petersburg, determined to live life on her own terms, sacrifices everything to follow her conviction that love is stronger than duty. A socially inept but warmhearted landowner pursues his own visions instead of conforming to conventional views. The adulteress and the philosopher head the vibrant cast of characters in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's tumultuous tale of passion and self-discovery. Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Aristotle's Poetics is best known for its definitions and analyses of tragedy and comedy, but it also applies to truth and beauty as they are manifested in the other arts. In our age, when the natural and social sciences have dominated the quest for truth, it is helpful to consider why Aristotle claimed poetry is more philosophical and more significant than history. Like so many other works by Aristotle, the Poetics has dominated the way we have thought about all forms of dramatic performance in Europe and America ever since.