Mostrando resultados por narrador "Frederick Davidson" en Todas las categorías

Since its first publication in 1989, Matt Kramer's extraordinarily accessible guide to wine has become a classic. Where others talk jargon about centrifuges, steel tanks, and acidity levels, Kramer talks about wine itself. The result is an enriching experience that goes far beyond knowing how to read a label or impress a waiter.

Through his own writings and inspiration of Aristotle and countless others, Plato continues to influence every area of philosophic thought, to say nothing of his enormous influence on Christian theology. His dramatic dialogues, including Republic, the monumental treatise on the ideal state, render him one of the greatest of Greek literary geniuses. In this concise analysis, eminent Plato scholar A. E. Taylor examines the philosopher's theory of knowledge and doctrine of ideas; the ideal of the philosopher-king; the social system advocated in Republic; judgments on democracy; and belief in the immortality of the soul. Also considered: Plato's relationship with his master, Socrates; contribution to the idea of university education; attack on art; abstention from public life; anticipation of Copernicus. Taylor also mentions historical misunderstandings of the one he deems the most original and influential of all philosophers.

Robert Browning's intensely romantic love affair with Elizabeth Barrett inspired some of literature's most celebrated verse. His view that love is the key to the meaning of life and life's animating force is evident in these collected poems.

This collection of eight world-famous cases from Doctor Watson's portfolio illustrates the singular mental faculties of Sherlock Holmes: a body on the London Underground; the strange disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax; a parcel containing some coarse salt and two freshly severed human ears.

Reluctantly posing as a pacifist, Richard Hannay infiltrates an anti-war league to capture an unimpeachable German spy. The only instructions he's given are to take up his old identity as a mining engineer from South Africa and pose as a staunch pacifist. As Hannay himself puts it: "To go into Germany as an anti-British Afrikaner was a stoutish adventure, but to lounge about at home talking rot was a very different-sized job."

The following announcement appeared in the Salterton Evening Bellman: "Professor and Mrs. Walter Vambrace are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Pearl Veronica, to Solomon Bridgetower, Esq., son of ..."

E. M. Forster’s first novel explores the comic and tragic effects of culture clash between insular, provincial British personalities and sensual Italian culture and atmosphere. Lilia Herriton, an impulsive 33-year-old widow from London, travels to Tuscany, where she falls in love with both Italy and the handsome, carefree Gino Carelli, a dentist’s son 12 years her junior. When news reaches the snobbish Herriton family that Lilia intends to marry again, this time to an unsuitable Italian, the domineering Mrs. Herriton sends her son, Philip, to prevent the catastrophe - but he arrives too late.

Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of Monsieur Coupeau, it seems as though she is on the path to a decent, respectable life at last. But with her husband's drinking and the unexpected appearance of a figure from her past, Gervaise's plans begin to unravel tragically.

This monumental work made the Arthurian cycle available for the first time in English. Malory took a body of legends from Celtic folklore that had been adapted into French literature, gave them an English perspective, and produced a work which ever since has had tremendous influence upon literature.

Phileas Fogg, a distinguished member of London's Reform Club, takes up a wager to circle the globe in just 80 days. Together with manservant Passepartout and a detective named Fix, Fogg makes a fantastic world tour utilizing every means of transportation available in the 1870s. This is a marvelous travelogue mixed with dazzling suspense, delightful fantasy, and lively comedy.

Whether viewed as subjugator or protector, Oliver Cromwell was a titan of 17th century England. French theologian Merle D'Aubigné wrote this 1847 biography for one purpose: "rectification of the common opinion with regard to Cromwell's religious character." And rectify he does.

Perhaps more than any other book The Thirty-Nine Steps has set the pattern for the story of the chase for a wanted man. And, of the many writers who have attempted this kind of thing since Buchan, only a very few, like Graham Greene, have managed to sustain the tension in the same way. The story's extended chase scene inspired Alfred Hitchcock's movie of the same name.

Penguin Island is Anatole France’s most searching and satirical novel. A humorous critique of customs and laws, rituals and rites, its subject is human nature, but its characters are penguins in the mythical land of Penguinia. The story of the strutting penguins and their virtues and vices is not merely a burlesque allegory of French history, but a satire of the history of mankind.

The status of John Donne (1572-1631) as one of the greatest poets in the English language is firmly established. He strongly influenced writers of the 17th century, and modern poets such as T.S. Eliot have praised and imitated Donne's work. His poetry is characterized by dramatic, witty, and bold language; by strikingly original imagery; and rhythms based on everyday speech.

One rainy morning in the winter of 1909, a man with an altogether average look about him quit his job at the London Morning Leader, kissed his wife and children goodbye, and took a train to Swansea in Wales, where he talked his way aboard a freighter bound for somewhere in the upper reaches of the Amazon. Three years later, Tomlinson published a book about his adventures. This book made him famous.

'The right good book,' says Mr. Tomlinson, 'is always a book of travel: it is about a life's journey.'

"Work," said Psmith, with simple dignity. "I am now a member of the staff of this bank. Its interests are my interests. Psmith, the individual, ceases to exist, and there springs into being Psmith, the cog in the wheel of the New Asiatic Bank; Psmith, the link in the bank's chain; Psmith, the Worker. "I shall not spare myself," he proceeded earnestly. "I shall toil with all the accumulated energy of one who, up till now, has only known what work is like from hearsay."

On the night of the final performance of The Seagull, in which Charlotte had taken a leading part, her husband Hugo jealously watched her dancing with younger men at the backstage party. He started drinking heavily and continuously. Two days passed in an alcoholic daze. Charlotte disappeared, presumably with her lover, and, when her body was found in the coal shed, strangled with her own scarf, every sign pointed to Hugo as the murderer.

Says Charles Pooter, "I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a 'somebody' - why my diary should not be interesting." Surprisingly, Mr. Pooter's life is fascinating! The fascination is two-fold: firstly, his astounding arrogance that we should care about his domestic trivia and narcissistic scribblings. Secondly, we can all sympathize with (and wince at!) this ridiculous slave to convention.

Marlow, the story's narrator, tells his friends of an experience in the British Congo where he once ran a river steamer for a trading company. He tells of the ivory traders' cruel exploitation of the natives there. Chief among these is a greedy and treacherous European named Kurtz, who has used savagery to obtain semi-divine power over the natives. While Marlow tries to get Kurtz back down the river, Kurtz tries to justify his actions, asserting that he has seen into the very heart of things.

In 1963, Samuel Eliot Morison, long one of our most distinguished historians, was awarded the first Balzan Prize in History, a prize that rivals the Nobel Prize in splendor and munificence. To receive the award, Admiral Morison had to go to Rome, where he delivered an address, "The Experiences and Principles of an Historian." This book includes the address he gave, as well a fascinating account of the award ceremonies, of which he was a central figure.