"The Awakening" is the story of Edna Pontellier, an attractive young wife and the mother of two sons living in the Creole south in the late 19th century. Edna feels herself trapped in a marriage where she is unable to express her passionate sensuality and as a result explores a spiritual and sexual awakening through an affair with a younger man during one summer while her husband is away. Liberated by this experience she sends her children away and is determined to live a more independent and self-determined life. This behavior would lead to her downfall ...

Appearing as part of his Table-Talk series, a conversational series written on topics concerning every day issues, William Hazlitt wrote "On the Pleasure of Hating" in 1823 during a bitter period of his life, amidst rising controversy over his previous works, as well as the dissolution of his marriage. Disgusted with the flowery romantic literature which was flourishing in that post-French Revolution period, Hazlitt drew inspiration from the works of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, and various well-known English poets. He became known as one of the first ...

Schopenhauer is perhaps best known for his 1818 work “The World as Will and Representation” and developed an enduring reputation for his philosophical pessimism, in contrast to the idealism of Immanuel Kant. Much of Schopenhauer’s work is a reaction to post-Kant German romanticism. Despite his failure to gain wide recognition for his philosophy during his lifetime, Schopenhauer has since become regarded as one of Western philosophy’s most important contributors. In 1851 Schopenhauer published “Parerga and Paralipomena” ...

The great Roman poet Lucan is considered one of the most important Latin Poets of all time. His masterful epic “Pharsalia”, or “Civil War” chronicles the dynamic battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The Great Civil War led to the downfall of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire. “Civil War” is divided into ten books, tracking Caesar’s march to Rome, through Spain, and finally to Egypt. The cast of characters is wide: Brutus, Cicero, and Cleopatra all have parts, creating a singular ...

First published in 1751, “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals” by David Hume, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, was the enquiry subsequent to his 1748 work “Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” and is often referred to as “the second Enquiry”. In Hume’s own opinion it was the very best of all his writings. In “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”, Hume expands upon his ideas of morality first discussed in his earlier work “A Treatise of Human Nature”. Hume seeks ...

Passed along for centuries through oral tradition by the followers of Buddhism, “The Dhammapada” is a collection of sayings by Buddha which concisely presents the religion’s core philosophies. Widely recognized as one of the most accessible works of all the Buddhist scriptures, the verses of the work describe events in the life of Buddha through which the wisdom of Buddha’s beliefs are revealed. Unlike the proscriptive nature of the scriptures of other religions those of the Buddhist religion are not overly dogmatic but rather are ...

Published in 1875 after appearing in serial form, “The Way We Live Now” is widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Anthony Trollope’s prolific Victorian career. The novel is a scathing satire which Trollope wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. Trollope was horrified to discover how pervasive greed and dishonesty had become in England during his absence. In seeking to reveal the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no sinful aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various ...

Mark Twain’s first attempt at historical fiction, “The Prince and the Pauper”, was first published in 1881. It is a story set in the time of Prince Edward, of house Tudor, who at age nine would become King Edward VI. When young Prince Edward meets a Pauper, Tom Canty, who likes a lot like him, he convinces the two to switch clothes so that they can be mistaken for each other and end up switching places. While they play out their new roles, Prince Edward learns of the struggles of the commoners of England while Tom discovers what it is like ...

Written in 1912 and set in and around London, "The Reef" is a story of complex morality and its intricately woven place in society. This narrative primarily follows George Darrow and Anna Leath, a young gentleman and a widowed lady who plan to marry. Both of them experience doubts about their union, with surprising outcomes. Darrow has a brief liaison with the delicate, generous Sophy Viner, a kind woman of the working class. She later meets Anna's stepson Owen Leath, who wishes to upset social conventions and marry her. When Anna's discovers the intimate ...

A predecessor to such monumental works as "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov", "Notes From Underground" represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky's writing towards the more political side. In this work we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives withdraws from that society into the underground. A dark and politically charged novel, "Notes From Underground" shows Dostoyevsky at his best. In Dostoyevsky's "The Double" we see an intense psychological study of ...