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  Banner of the Upright Seven The...

  Gottfried Keller

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  "The Banner of the Upright Seven" is a novel by the swiss poet Gottfried Keller. The narration is divided into acts and scenes, almost like a theater piece. It contains remarkable speeches and many dialogs compared to other novels of Keller. In 1877 he added "The Banner of the Upright Seven" to his "Züricher Novellen" ("Zurich novels"). It is considered one of his most famous pieces and represents a fine example of poetic realism.

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  Hecuba

  Euripides

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  Like Euripides' Trojan Women, this play takes place after the sack of Troy. Hecuba, widow of King Priam, suffers the loss of her daughter Polyxena and her son Polydore, and is hungry for revenge on those who have wronged her.  Summary by Elizabeth KlettCast of Characters:Ghost of Polydore: Rob BoardHecuba: Elizabeth KlettChorus: RapunzelinaPolyxena: Kristin GjerløwUlysses: alanmapstoneTalthybius: ToddAttendant: Mary KayAgamemnon: Larry WilsonPolymestor: davidprNarrator: MaryAnn

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  Adventure of the Empty House The...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  "The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his apparently miraculous survival of a deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty. This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed death at the Reichenbach Falls, as recounted in "The Final Problem". The Hound of the Baskervilles had seen the return of a pre-Reichenbach Falls Sherlock Holmes, which only served to whet readers' appetites. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Empty House" sixth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories.

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  Fanny Hill

  John Cleland

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  Fanny Hill, one of the most popular novels of the 18th century, traces the rise of its heroine from prostitution to middle-class respectability. Condemned in its own time on grounds of indecency, the book was the subject of several law suits until as recently as the 1960s. For today’s reader, the work holds as much fascination as when it was first published, not only as the foremost example of English erotic fiction, but as a literary classic in its own right.

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  A Little Woman - A man tries to...

  Franz Kafka

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  Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family. 
   
  Life for the young Kafka and his passion for literature was often made an ordeal by his over-bearing and domineering entrepreneur of a father.   
   
  In 1889 Kafka was sent to the Deutsche Knabenschule, an elementary school in Prague. His father would only allow him to be educated in German-speaking schools and even went so far as to limit visits to the synagogue to four a year. 
   
  In 1901 he graduated from the classics-oriented Altstädter Gymnasium. Kafka did well there and across a large range of subjects.  He now enrolled at the Charles Ferdinand University, to study chemistry, but quickly switched to law for which he obtained his degree in June 1906 and then performed the mandatory year of unpaid service as clerk at the civil and criminal courts. 
   
  A job at an Italian insurance company left him little time to write and after a year he took another job with the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia where he stayed until ill health led to his resignation in 1922. 
   
  Although he saw work as a means to pay the bills and to allow him time to write, he received several promotions and was noted as a good employee. 
   
  By 1917 Kafka was suffering from tuberculosis, which required frequent periods of convalescence. Interspersed with this, were several intense affairs before he settled in Berlin with Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher who herself having left the ghetto now influenced Kafka's interest in the book of Jewish law, the Talmud. 
   
  Kafka’s on-going health was littered with problems. Apart from TB there were several other ailments, including migraines, insomnia, boils, depression, all usually brought on by excessive stresses and strains. He attempted to counteract all of this by naturopathic treatments, a vegetarian diet and consuming large quantities of unpasteurized milk. 
   
  His tuberculosis still worsened. He returned to Prague, where he died on 3rd June 1924. He was 40. 
   
  His literary works are few in number but towering in influence.  His masterpieces include ‘The Trial’, ‘The Metamorphosis’ as well as a number of short stories which reveal facets of humankind that truthfully could only be born from Kafka’s brain and pen.

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  Agnes Grey

  Anne Brontë

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  As Agnes navigates her professional struggles, she also grapples with matters of the heart. Her encounters with Mr. Weston, a curate, and Mr. Hatfield, a wealthy suitor, bring both joy and heartache as she navigates the complexities of love, social class, and personal integrity. Throughout the novel, "Agnes Grey" explores themes of class distinction, gender roles, and the plight of women in Victorian society. Anne Bronte offers a compassionate critique of the treatment of governesses and the limited opportunities available to women of the time. Through Agnes's experiences, the novel examines the importance of individuality, moral integrity, and the pursuit of personal happiness against societal expectations.

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