Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Psychological

Pangloss would have been right at home in a post-truth, social media world. You can imagine the tweets, “I was hanged and survived #soggyrope,” or, “#nosyphilisnochocolate.” Candide, written in 1759, was never more relevant than today. Blind obeisance and denial, barbarous villainy, greed, and rapacity, are all in a day’s toil for the young Candide. And this is in the best of all possible worlds!

Franz Kafka's profound and disturbing novella Metamorphosis was first published in German in 1915. In this recent translation by David Wyllie, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, wakes to find himself "transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin". How he, his family, and others deal with this untoward situation is subsequently revealed.

In Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice, a distinguished writer's holiday from the burdens of his work turns out very differently from what he expected. By means of the story, Mann explores the relationships between disciplined intellect and ungoverned passion, and between decaying age and youthful beauty, against a background that resonates today in a time of pandemics. It was first published in German (as Der Tod in Venedig) in 1912.

Written in 1913, D H Lawrence's first major novel, Sons and Lovers, was the one of the earliest in the English language to explore a close-knit mining community from the inside. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical novel, set in the Nottinghamshire coal fields, is renowned for its accurate portrayal of working-class life and for its use of local dialect. It traces emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with his over possessive mother, and the women he falls in love with.

A governess employed at a remote estate finds herself in charge of two young children. As the story unfolds, it would appear that nothing is as it should be. The governess doubts her own sanity when the children see things, and it seems that the estate is haunted. Is the governess in danger from the ghosts or is she in danger from the children?

Drawn to the little seaport of Colebrook by an anonymous letter, elderly and eccentric Captain Hagberd settles down to build a home ready for the day when his son, Harry, who ran away to sea many years ago, finally returns. As the years pass, the old man convinces himself that Harry will come back on some never-realized "to-morrow", and Bessie, the lonely and unhappy daughter of the Captain's neighbor, comes to share in the Captain's desperate hope....

Released in France anonymously in 1678, The Princess of Cleves is a terse, fictional account of unconsummated love set in the court of Henri II. Regarded as a pivotal piece in the history of women's writing, this tragic tale sees the life squeezed painfully out of the young, female protagonist as she struggles to abide by confusing moral mores amidst a world of complex, amorous intrigues and the fierce grip of her own—disastrous—passion.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This semi-autobiographical story was first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. In this story, which was written after a severe bout of postpartum depression, Charlotte gives us a disturbing and surreal view of the deterioration of a woman's mental health and her descent into psychosis from her depression.

Virginia Woolf’s most famous "stream of consciousness" novel, Mrs. Dalloway, records the events of one June day in 1923 - the day on which Clarissa Dalloway is hosting a party in her London home. Mrs. Dalloway continues to fascinate and challenge, hinting at homosexuality, mental illness, racial prejudice, infidelity, and unrequited love. It presents a perfect picture of London between the wars, in an England where the class system is still firmly entrenched while carrying throughout an undercurrent of rage at the resulting inequalities.

Romantic comedy, light and slightly awkward by Henry James with his characteristic observations of character, motivations and relationships. Two young men, best friends, deeply interested in the same woman. The background is Europe at the turn of the century and the world of ex-pats. With time and several countries, they each discover love.

"What an incalculable sum of gifts and virtues went to make up the monster's daily meal." So observes American expatriate painter John Campton, whose only son is conscripted to military service in France at the beginning of WWI. In Edith Wharton's saga, A Son at the Front, we share the character's anguish as thousands of young men are sacrificed to the insatiable appetite of the war. The lessons are as relevant today as they were almost 100 years ago.

A great science fiction short story from the age of the digest size sci-fi magazines in the burgeoning science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s by one of the masters of the genre.

A gentleman enjoying the morning over the River Seine waves to a steamer, and the nightmare begins. He believes he may be going insane, but then he begins to feel there is an entity that he cannot see invading his mind and his home. The entity is perhaps an invader from another world. Guy de Maupassant's tale of classic horror will enthrall you.

The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, was first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism with themes that are still relevant today.

New Grub Street (1891) has the reputation of being George Gissing's finest novel. With bitter humour and grim realism, it tells the story of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of men and women struggling to earn their living as writers in the closing years of the Victorian era. Jasper Milvain is a young writer of limited talent, eager to exploit every opportunity and social connection in order to make his way. For those who toil "in the valley of the shadow of books" the spectre of poverty looms large.

The Raven Edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) presents his complete literary output in five volumes. The second volume contains 22 stories, which illustrate the author's fascination with the macabre, the unexpected, and the terrifying.

In the first installment of the Bowman Case Files, bored and entitled university student Julia Strauss meets a captivating man during a random encounter at a cafe. She is instantly attracted to the handsome stranger and pursues him obsessively. What she doesn’t know is that behind all the charm, he has a secret agenda of his own. Can Julia see beyond the haze of her infatuation before it’s too late?

An artist creates paintings that create emotions. Staring at the painting for too long, people become mesmerized, acting out what they witnessed on the canvas.

Life as Livy Random came with its challenges. Struggling with her appearance and her unhappy marriage to Mr. Mark Random, Livy found solace in her vivid imagination. By conjuring an imaginary lover, Livy discovered a world where she felt truly alive, feeling his presence in ways she couldn't quite explain. As her connection to this invisible paramour grew stronger, Livy ventured into uncharted territory when she became pregnant--not by her husband, but by this ethereal lover.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s haunting chronicle of crippling depression, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a cornerstone of weird fiction. First published in 1892, it has now been given an unsettling yet empathetic treatment courtesy of Robert Hunter (original score) and Linda Jones (narration) who skillfully brings the listener into the tale’s interiority and demonstrates its timelessness.