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Description Xavier de Maistre lived mostly as a military man, fighting in France and Russia around the turn of the 19th century. In 1790 a duel he participated in led him to be put under arrest in Turin; during his confinement in a tiny chamber, he wrote his most famous work, βA Journey Round My Room.β βJourneyβ is a short story written as a parody of the grand travelogues popular at the time. He frames his six weeksβ confinement as a long journey across the unknown land of his room, visiting
Description Gil Blas isnβt the first picaresque novel, but itβs one of the genreβs most famous examples; itβs a novel that at one point in history was on the bookshelf of every good reader, and it has been featured in allusions across literature for centuries after its publication between 1715 and 1735. Gil Blas is the name of a Spanish boy born to a poor stablehand and a chambermaid. Heβs educated by his uncle before leaving to attend a university, but on the way his journey is interrupted by
Description The Power of Darkness is a five-act drama that follows the downfall of the peasants AnΓsya and NikΓta as they succumb to a series of sordid temptations, from adultery and drunkenness to outright murder. Written in 1886 but suppressed by censors until 1902, the play is a realist portrayal of some of the darkest elements of Russian peasant life. Similar to some other late Tolstoy works, like Resurrection , the playβs psychological exploration of human depravity is accompanied by a
Description Lorelei, a young woman living in the early 1920s, decides to keep a diary after receiving a blank journal from a βgentleman friend.β Lorelei has an apartment in New York paid for by a Chicago businessman named Gus Eisman. When heβs in town, Mr. Eisman spends his time βeducatingβ Lorelei by going out to dinner, taking in shows, and then escorting her to her apartment to βtalk about the topics of the day until quite late.β When he isnβt in town, Lorelei does much the same with the
Description In the year 2129, a doglike alien race asks the scientists Arcot, Wade and, Morey to assist them with defending their solar system from an enemy force. Their journey takes them to other solar systems across the galaxy as they build battle spacecraft out of pure matter using only their minds. Invaders from the Infinite is the third and final installment in the Arcot, Morey, and Wade trilogy. It was originally published in April 1932 in Amazing Stories.
Description The Skylark of Space is said to be the seminal space opera. Dr. Seaton accidentally discovers a source of energy which could be used to travel to other star systems, but when he tries to show others, it fails to work. Most of his colleagues ridicule him, and he quits his career to focus on trying to refine the process. Meanwhile Dr. DuQuesne realizes the truth, and is willing to do anything to have that power. Both scientists refine the process well enough to build a spaceship and