Showing results by author "Michela Bertazzo" in All Categories

The love story between a nobleman and a beautiful lady whom he meets in church leads both of them to unexpected places, as many people would not put up with their love. This novel is considered to be one of the best Gothic novels ever written, by one of the first (and best) writers of the genre. How does an "indecent" love story become a Gothic tale? What is the outcome of this love story? If you want to know, read this book. (Summary by Stav Nisser)NOTE: There was no chapter 30 in the edition used in this project. The chapter numbers skip from 29 to 31. Chapter 5 was added on 28/Aug/2020.

The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play. "No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the ...

Few plays have been seen as a more fitting conclusion to a playwright's career than Shakespeare's The Tempest. Focusing on the aging sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, Prospero, we are transported to a remote island where magic and strange music fill the air, and the monstrous slave Caliban roams in bitterness. Seeing an opportunity to restore his slandered name, Prospero conjures a mighty storm to bring down a ship containing his wicked brother and the King of Naples, both of whom had driven him out of Milan twelve years before. By stranding them on a remote end of the island, and with the ...

The Odysseys are a collection of stories about Ulysses' journey home from the war at Troy purportedly written in the 8th century BCE by Homer, a blind poet thought to have lived in the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, possibly at Smyrna. The events described are thought to have occurred centuries before being recorded by Homer, handed down orally since the twelfth century BCE, the golden era of the Greek Bronze Age when the world was populated by heroic mortals and often visited by the Gods. This verse translation in couplets by George Chapman was originally published in 1616, the first ...

Margaret of Anjou, wife of England’s Henry VI, played a key role in launching the storied War of the Roses – the 30-year civil conflict fuelled by the Lancasters and the Yorks, each vying for the British throne in the 15th century.

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in...

"Now first published in order to cultivate the Principles of Virtue and Religion in the Minds of the Youth of Both Sexes.A Narrative which has its Foundation in Truth and Nature; and at the same time that it agreeably entertains, by a Variety of curious and affecting Incidents, is intirely divested of all those Images, which, in too many Pieces calculated for Amusement only, tend to inflame the Minds they should instruct."(From the frontispiece of the first edition)Pamela tells the story of a 14 year old lady's maid named Pamela whose master, Mr. B., makes unwanted advances towards her. She ...

Elizabeth von Arnim, author of Vera and The Enchanted April, takes us on a novelized journey through the German island and vacation getaway of Rügen. Here we meet and enjoy "Elizabeth", who solely, with only a maid and coachman, encounter several other quaint and intriguing characters and stories. This book is full of quick wit and WILL make you chuckle along the way! (Summary by Christine Rottger)

This is Shakespeare's dutiful trubute to one of the most imposing and terrifying rulers in European history. The kingdom trembles as the giant monarch storms through his midlife crisis, disposing of the faithful Katharine of Aragon and starting a new life and, the king hopes, a line of succession with the captivating young Anne Bullen. Unlike his predecessors, Henry has no doubt about the security of his tenure on the throne, and dominates the royal court with absolute authority. The play has a surprising modern flavour: there is even a set of "Royal watchers" - the three gossipy gentlemen! (...

One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, As You Like It is a pastoral comedy of mistaken identity, wit, and love. Daughter of a banished duke and forced to flee the court, Rosalind hides in the Forest of Arden disguised as a man. When her true love Orlando also shows up in the forest, she courts him without revealing her identity. Meanwhile, Phebe mistakenly falls in love with her disguise, Silvius pines for Phebe, Jacques philosophizes, and Touchstone makes fun of it all, and love and happiness triumph (for the most part) as Rosalind orchestrates a happy ending amid the confusion. (Summary ...

The Roaring Girl is a rip-roaring Jacobean comedy co-written by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker and first published in 1611. The play is a fictionalized dramatization of the life of Mary Frith, known as "Moll Cutpurse", a woman who had gained a reputation as a virago in the early 17th century. (The term "roaring girl" was adapted from the slang term "roaring boy", which was applied to a young man who caroused publicly, brawled, and committed petty crimes.) The play combines the exploits of the cross-dressed Moll with the amorous adventures of a trio of merchants' wives, and the forbidden ...

There are very few persons who have not heard of the fame of Peter the Great, the founder, as he is generally regarded by mankind, of Russian civilization. The celebrity, however, of the great Muscovite sovereign among young persons is due in a great measure to the circumstance of his having repaired personally to Holland, in the course of his efforts to introduce the industrial arts among his people, in order to study himself the art and mystery of shipbuilding, and of his having worked with his own hands in a ship-yard there. The little shop where Peter pursued these practical studies still ...

Emma is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance....As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own ...

The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem’s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas’ wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem’s second half treats the Trojans’ ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The poem was commissioned from Vergil by the Emperor Augustus to glorify Rome. Several critics think that the hero Aeneas’ abandonment of ...

"One of the most inspired chronicles written in English" was the verdict of William Butler Yeats on the novel Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth which was first published in 1800. It is recognised as the first true historical novel in English as well as the first Big-House novel. Written at the time when there was much debate about the Act of Union which proposed to unite Great Britain with Ireland, the book satirised the mismanagement of their Irish estates by Anglo-Irish landlords. Maria Edgeworth's writing is wonderful - informative, entertaining and amusing by turns. Just before ...

A Gothic novel famously mentioned by Jane Austen in "Northanger Abbey" as an inspiration for the romantic ideals and supernatural fears of Catherine. Ann Radcliffe has been called the "Great Enchantress" of her age and this is one of her finest novels. Supernatural eerie thrills, midnight explorations of draughty corridors and mysterious partly burned notes all play their parts. There are noblemen in disguise, a duel, a trial, a dangerous illness, a deathbed confession and, of course, a dark and handsome hero with a fatal secret! - Summary by Beth ThomasThis project was proof-listened by Betty...

"Few women have worked so faithfully for the cause of humanity as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin [1759-1797], and few have been the objects of such censure...The young were bidden not to read her books, and the more mature warned not to follow her example, the miseries she endured being declared the just retribution of her actions." So begins this short, vivid biography of Mary Wollstonecraft by the American expatriate author, Elizabeth Robins Pennell. We read how Wollstonecraft's father, an unstable, irascible, and often violent alcoholic squandered his fortune and dragged his large family from ...

The Iliad is an epic poem believed to have been composed by Homer, describing events of the final year of the 10 year siege of Troy by Greece. Chapman's translation is the first English translation directly from the Greek. - Summary by Fritz

This is a collection of 6 delightful stories about children by some of the best authors of the period: Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb, Maria Edgeworth and Alicia Catherine Mant. These stories are well written and although they feature children and their escapades, clearly can be enjoyed by adults as well if not more. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

Vol. 1 of Diaries and letters of the young Fanny Burney. The diaries give a lively and accurate account of her experiences in the literary and courtly worlds of Georgian England. The Volume also contains a selection from her correspondence and from the journals of her sisters Susan and Charlotte Burney. (Summary by barbara2)