Literary Criticism
Mrs. Craddock
“I thought it was you I saw coming up the hill,” she said, stretching out her hand.He stopped and shook it; the touch of his big, firm finge…
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences
This is Mark Twain's vicious and amusing review of Fenimore Cooper's literary art. It is still read widely in academic circles. Twain's essa…
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 mill…
Bel Ami
“He had faith in his good fortune, in that power of attraction which he felt within him - a power so irresistible that all women yielded to …
In the Cage
In the Cage is a novella by Henry James, first published as a book in 1898. This long story centers on an unnamed London telegraphist. She d…
Mother
Mother by Kathleen Norris explores the profound relationship between a daughter and her mother through the lens of domestic life. As Margare…
Winesburg, Ohio
Published in 1919, and listed on the Modern Library roster of the 20th century's 100 greatest novels in English, Winesburg, Ohio presents a …
Chronicles of Avonlea
In this first collection of stories following the characters from the "Anne of Green Gables" series, we see 12 vignettes into the …
Anna of the Five Towns
The plot centers on Anna Tellwright, daughter of a wealthy but miserly and dictatorial father, living in the Potteries area of Staffordshire…
A Common Story
Alexander Fedoritch Adouev is the naïve, pampered son of Anna Pavlovna, a provincial landowner. He decides to go off to Saint Petersbur…
Main Street
Carol Milford is a liberal, free-spirited young woman, reared in the metropolis of Minneapolis. She marries Will Kennicott, a doctor, who is…
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist was published in 1838 as a three volume book. The novel was the first of Dickens' works to realistically portray the degradatio…
Curiosities of Literature
This is the second volume of the collected Curiosities of Literature by Isaac D'Israeli. As in volume one, D'Isreali again takes us on a tou…
The Bostonians
This bittersweet tragicomedy centers on an odd triangle of characters: Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chance…
The Jew of Malta
Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. T…
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is the story of Prince Klaus Heinrich, a member of a struggling German duchy and an exotic American heiress who comes to live…
Maude
Maude is a novella by Christina Rossetti, written in 1850 but published posthumously in 1897. Considered by scholars to be semi-autobiograph…
Liza of Lambeth
Liza of Lambeth focuses on the challenges of life facing Liza, an 18 year old factory girl who lives in the poverty of the slums of 1890s Lo…
The Magic Skin
The Magic Skin is Honoré de Balzac's first successful novel, exploring the intricate relationship between desire, materialism, and th…
Gobseck
Gobseck delves into the life of a shrewd and calculating pawnbroker, Jean-Esther Gobseck, whose financial dealings reveal the darker side of…