Showing results for "The Man" in Classics

In this comedic masterpiece, three young men, increasingly given to thoughts of hypochondria, decide to embark on a journey along the river Thames. Confident that the fresh air and daily exercise will grant them immunity from a myriad of illnesses and diseases, they pack up their frying pans, toothbrushes, food and canine companion, Montmorency, and set off on an unexpected adventure.

This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the "terrible anguish", he is determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl, however, begins the man on a journey that re-instills a love for his fellow man.

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.

Chesterton's allegorical masterpiece is a surreal, psychologically thrilling novel that centres on seven anarchists in turn of the century London who call themselves by the names of days of the week. The story begins when poet Gabriel Syme is recruited as a detective to a secret anarchist division of Scotland Yard by a shrouded, nameless person. Syme infiltrates a secret meeting of anarchists who are intent on destroying the world and becomes known as 'Thursday', one of the seven members of the Central Anarchist Council.

Chesterton's talent as a mystery writer is displayed in this collection of detective stories, The Man Who Knew Too Much. In each story, the star detective, Horne Fisher, deals with another strange mystery: the vanishing of a priceless coin, the framing of an Irish "prince" freedom fighter, an eccentric rich man dies during an obsessive fishing trip, another vanishing during an ice skate, a statue crushing his own uncle, and a few more.

On a freezing February day, a stranger emerges from out of the gray to request a room at a local provincial inn. Who is this out-of-season traveler? More confounding is the thick mask of bandages obscuring his face. Why does he disguise himself in this manner and keep himself hidden away in his room? Aroused by trepidation and curiosity, the local villagers bring it upon themselves to find the answers.

George is heartbroken after the death of his lover, Jim. A professor of English in sunny, suburban California, George grieves in solitude, surrounded by easy-going, uncomprehending youth. Beneath his British restraint, waves of sorrow and anger surge. He doggedly persists with the routines of his past life, heading out to work, to the gym, on again to dinner. From his solitude springs defiance; he will triumph over loneliness and alienation, he will find love again, he will feel joy.

The Last Man is Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end of human civilisation. Set in the late twenty-first century, the novel unfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankind confronting inevitable destruction. Interwoven with her futuristic theme, Mary Shelley incorporates idealised portraits of Shelley and Byron, yet rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature.

In George Orwell: The Man and the Mind Behind 1984, Professor Michael Shelden will show you how 1984 presents a plausible reality of thought control and totalitarian power that feels contemporary even as it reflects its own time.

The Three Men Collection brings together Jerome K. Jerome's two most celebrated pieces of fiction - Three Men in a Boat and the follow-up, Three Men on the Bummel - still widely thought of as an essential comedic classic and the inspiration for countless spin-offs and adaptations.

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a ‘T’. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks – not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.’s small fox-terrier Montmorency.

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal...

First published in 1927, Men Without Women represents some of Hemingway's most important and compelling early writing. In these fourteen stories, Hemingway begins to examine the themes that would occupy his later works: the casualties of war, the often-uneasy relationship between men and women, sport and sportsmanship. Pared down, gritty, and subtly expressive, these stories show the young Hemingway emerging as America's finest writer.

Here is one of the greatest English comic novels read by incontrovertible king of English comic audiobook readers, Martin Jarvis. Three men, worried about their health and in search of different experiences, set off 'up the river' in a boat. Jerome's delightful novel, dating from 1900, paints a vivid picture of innocent fun.

My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised.

In 1913, the Viennese aristocracy is gathering to celebrate the 17th jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef, even as the Austro-Hungarian Empire is collapsing and the rest of Vienna is showing signs of rebellion. At the centre of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: a veteran, a seducer and a scientist, yet also a man 'without qualities' and therefore a brilliant and detached observer of his changing world.

In this 1919 collection, Wodehouse introduces readers to the iconic duo of Bertie Wooster, an affable but hapless English gentleman, and Jeeves, his brilliant and resourceful valet. From social blunders, hopeless romances and family mishaps, Bertie is saved by Jeeves’s calm intellect time and time again. Also featured in this collection is the wealthy yet helpless Reggie Pepper, a character often considered an early prototype of Bertie.

Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King is a gripping tale of ambition, imperialism, and tragic downfall. Set in the rugged mountains of 19th-century Afghanistan, this powerful novella follows two British adventurers, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan, who hatch a daring plan to become kings of a remote tribal land. Disguised as gods and wielding foreign knowledge, the pair at first succeed in gaining the trust and worship of the Kafiristan natives. But their thirst for power blinds them to the fragile nature of illusion and the limits of control.

Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw that takes place in 1885, during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. Raina Petkoff is engaged to the gallant Sergius Saranoff, hero of the recent Bulgarian victory over the Serbs. But she is distracted by the abrupt arrival of Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary who fought for the Serbian army. He takes refuge in her bedroom after the battle and although he is initially threatening, reveals that he carries chocolate creams instead of bullets. Will Raina marry the posturing Sergius or the chocolate cream soldier?