To this day the author of this famous collection of tales remains unknown. But he probably was a minstrel of the Middle Ages who went from castle to castle entertaining his listeners with his stories—Bible stories, stories from French, Provençal, and Arthurian sources, stories from the Classics, and stories of Oriental origin. Some were moralistic, some humorous, some witty, some spicy.As a collection they have never ceased to interest because of their humanness. Written in a quain...

"Six Characters in Search of an Author" (Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore) is an Italian three-act play written by Luigi Pirandello in 1921, considered as one of the earliest examples of absurdist theatre. It's a play within a play that deals with perceptions of reality and illusion, and plays with the ideas of identity and relative truths.The plot features an acting company who have gathered to rehearse another play by Pirandello, when they're interrupted by 6 "characters" who arr...

Three essential plays by one of Europe's foremost 20th century dramatists The Rules of the Game is based closely on the author's own unhappy marriage centred around Leone Gala and his wife who are separated, their only contract, a formal visiting procedure; Henry IV, shows the effect of madness and delusion on the figure of a king; and in Six Characters in Search of an Author six actors are trapped inside a rehearsal for an unwritten play desperately needing a writer to complete their stor...

Luigi Pirandello's "Three Plays" encapsulates the intricate interplay of identity, reality, and illusion that defines much of modernist theatre. This collection features three of his seminal works'—"Six Characters in Search of an Author," "Henry IV," and "The Accessory"'—where he masterfully blends existential themes with a rich theatrical style. Through innovative narrative techniques and a keen psychological insight, Pirandello challenges the boundaries of theatrical convention and the n...

"Six Characters in Search of an Author (Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore)" stands as a cornerstone of Italian dramatist Luigi Pirandello's oeuvre, penned in 1921. This seminal work of absurdist theatre presents a mesmerizing play within a play, unfolding amidst a rehearsal disrupted by the uninvited arrival of six enigmatic characters. These spectral figures, claiming to be incomplete creations abandoned by their author, emerge seeking a resolution to their untold tales. Their insistence o...

The facetie, as a literary form, has an ancient lineage, while, if we regard it merely as a humorous tale or jocular anecdote, its history must be almost as old as the first laughs and smiles of prehistoric man. To go back no further, we may trace it in a direct line through Latin literature, to the Greek apopthegm. Facetiae, in the literary sense, are also to be found in Oriental literature, espeically the Persian and the Arabian.The Greek apopthegm and its Roman successor had a d...

Sherlock Holmes undertakes one of the strangest adventures of his career when he agrees to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore, who stepped back into his house to get his umbrella and was never seen again. The great detective’s inquiries take him down a sometimes-false trail from a home in Surrey to a music hall in London and back again before he finds the astonishing answer to this puzzling problem. In “The Problem of Thor Bridge,” Dr. Watson lists this case a...

In this remarkable tale, Watson helps Sherlock Holmes save the detective's own life. After having apparently contracted a fatal illness, Holmes summons Watson to his bedside and issues a series of seemingly nonsensical instructions and directives. Before long, the truth behind Holmes' mysterious ailment is revealed — and the truth will shock even the most perceptive readers.

The Adventure of the Red Circle' is one of the stories among 56 Sherlock Holmes adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a 6,000-word short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's physical and mental health. The story is written in the first person as a series of journal entries. The narrator is a woman whose husband — a physician — has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a house h...

Machiavelli is considered to be one of the fathers of modern political science; collected here are his most cherished works in one collection with an active table of contents.Works include:The PrinceDiscourses on the First Decade of Titus LiviusThe Art of WarHistory of Florence and Italy

A literary critic is thrilled to receive a hint from renowned novelist Hugh Vereker that his works contain a hidden, all-encompassing meaning—a secret pattern woven like a figure in a carpet. Obsessed with uncovering this mystery, the critic embarks on a futile quest that consumes his life, as the truth always seems just out of reach.The Figure in the Carpet is a short by Henry James, originally published in 1896.HENRY JAMES [1843 -1916] was born in New York but emi...