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The Seagull is Anton Chekhov's first major play, originally produced in 1896. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arcadina, and her son, the symbolist playwright Constantine Treplef.

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) may be considered the Canadian counterpart to Mark Twain. For many years he was professor of economics at Magill University and published a number of well-regarded texts on economics and political science. However, he is best known today for his many volumes of humorous fiction. During the 1920s he was one of the most widely read authors in the English-speaking world and was considered by Jack Benny and Groucho Marx to be one of the greatest comic writers of all time.

When Drake is told that his beloved wife does not have long to live, he clutches at straws for anything that will prolong her life. A mysterious stranger offers him a cure for his wife's illness that appears to be remarkably effective - but, like many miracles, it comes at a cost.

This play, which bears an alternate title of What You Will, was written in about 1602. Twelfth Night has always been one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, and many adaptations have been made for film and musical theatre.

First published in 1881, the subtitle of this book tells us that it was written “for children and those who love children”. Heidi, a 5-year-old orphan, is handed off by her young Aunt Dete to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Though her new life is foreign, Heidi soon falls in love with her grandfather, and he with her. They share a contented life of goat-herding. But when Grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school in the small village below, quarrels ensue.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was one of the most prominent members of the Imagist movement, a brief flowering of modernist poetry, in which Ezra Pound was also involved. Williams was also an accomplished painter and art critic. Imagist verse is characterized by a distinct economy of verbiage and freedom of rhythm. Sour Grapes was his fourth collection of poetry and was published in 1921. As with much of Williams' early works, critical acclaim was slow in coming. Today, the collection is considered to contain some of his most significant poems.

Moby Dick, which has been considered the great American novel, was first published in 1851. For material, Melville drew on his experience on whaling ships between 1841 and 1844, the sinking of the whaling vessel Essex in 1820, and extensive perusal of literature on whaling and many other subjects.