Showing results by narrator "Walter Zimmerman" in All Categories

Diable - A Dog, first appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine June, 1902. Unlike Buck in The Call of the Wild, this fiercely independent dog was anything but man's best friend. Most thought he was a devil but, as the story says his master Black Leclère was also a devil, "and the twain were well matched."

The Cossacks is one of the finest depictions of Cossack society in Russian literature. Against that primitive background, Tolstoy examines two psychological problems. The first is that of a young man who wants to love and wants to fit into society. The other is that of the difficulty of a primitive society in accepting the domination of a higher culture. This is a brilliant exploration of the themes of individuality and social identity.

A town that prides itself on its honesty finds itself severely tested. One of the demons Mark Twain always set out to slay was the myth that the citizens of the American republic are inherently more virtuous than others. By the invention of an elaborate hoax, a kind of giant practical joke, Twain has his hero turn the town of Hadleyburg inside out and, in the process, teach the hypocrites who dwell there a lesson in humility and moral realism.

Here is Twain's humorous, but also touching, look at Adam and Eve, in which he presents two very different interpretations of Eden.

Arguably Turgenev's greatest work and certainly one of the most controversial Russian novels ever written, Fathers and Sons incited protests from all branches of Russian society. Turgenev dramatized the volcanic issues that divided a Russia torn by social unrest and conflict: peasants against masters, generations against generations, and fathers against sons.

The Purloined Letter is one of Edgar Allan Poe's detective stories. It is the third of the three stories featuring the detective C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Mystery of Marie Roget. These stories are considered important forerunners of the modern detective story. The Method Poes detective, Dupin, uses to solve the crime was quite innovative. He tried to identify with the criminal and to "think like he would."

Kipling was a British author and poet, born in India. He is best known for the many children's tales, his Indian spy novel Kim (1901), a number of poems, and many short stories. This gentle supernatural story is one of his best.

This is the first story of The Jungle Book, in which the reader is introduced to Mowgli, the jungle boy, and his animal friends.

This is the story of the celebrated Pickwick Club. The members are to report to the club on their journeys, adventures, and observations of characters and manners. Dickens creates a vivid picture of England in taking his characters along the nostalgic highways and byways of this majestic isle. This remarkable first novel made Dickens famous and has remained one of the world's best-known works.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. In this Useless Beauty ( L'Inutile Beauté ) a woman who is being kept at home by a jealous husband as a "trophy," finally reaches her limit to the astonishment of her husband.

Here is Twain's hilarious tale of "Smiley" and his extraordinary frog.

H. G. Wells' science fiction novel of an alien invasion was the first of its kind and remains his most popular book. It has influenced both literature and other media, including several films, and a famous radio drama.

Saladin Foster and his wife, Electra, are jolted out of their tranquility by the stunning news that a distant relative has left them $30,000. The one condition is that the couple must be able to prove "that they had taken no notice of the gift by spoken word or by letter, had made no inquiries concerning the [ship] Moribund's progress toward the everlasting tropics, and had not attended the funeral." This condition leads to some major difficulties.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson was a Norwegian writer, editor, and theater director, known along with Henrik Ibsen, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie as one of the "four great ones" of 19th-century Norwegian literature. Bjornson campaigned widely for liberal and national ideals, and became an extremely popular national figure. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1903. "The Father" is one of his most widely anthologized stories.

A rather unattractive itinerant flute-player and music copyist is sent away on Christmas Eve - causing a family to feel uncomfortably guilty. Lagerlof was a Swedish novelist, who in 1909 became the first woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Her work is deeply rooted in Nordic legends and history.

This is a selection from Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. As a protégé of Flaubert, his short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless resolution. In Growing Old two middle-aged men discuss their feelings about aging which leads to one telling a heart rending story about young love and its unexpected aftermath.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story as well as one of the form's finest writers. His stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements

Stephen Crane is best known as the author of The Red Badge of Courage, but he also wrote a number of powerful short stories. Crane's writing style is noted for his use of a method that has come to be known as "naturalism", in which characters face very realistic and often bleak circumstances. This excellent and very humorous story is an exception to his usual rather somber stories.

A scientist invents a machine that allows him to travel far into the future, and back again. In a far distant world he finds what, at first, seems to be a paradise. There is no more suffering, only beauty, tranquility and peace. He soon finds out however, that the inhabitants of the future pay a terrible price for their "Eden".