Prospero’s Isle

The complete (319) stories of Anton Chekhov: synopses, comments and ratings
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was probably the most prolific writer of short stories of all time, with 319 published stories to his credit before his (...)
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was probably the most prolific writer of short stories of all time, with 319 published stories to his credit before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, as well as 2 novels [1], 16 plays [2] and a (...)
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was probably the most prolific writer of short stories of all time, with 319 published stories to his credit before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 44, as well as 2 novels [1], 16 plays [2] and a number of newspaper articles and essays. Here you will find a (...)

The complete (300) stories of Guy de Maupassant: synopses, comments and ratings
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was one of the most prolific writers of short stories in the history of world literature, with 300 stories, (...)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was one of the most prolific writers of short stories in the history of world literature, with 300 stories, novelettes and novellas to his credit [1], almost all of them written in the decade 1880-1889, (...)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was one of the most prolific writers of short stories in the history of world literature, with 300 stories, novelettes and novellas to his credit [1], almost all of them written in the decade 1880-1889, shortly before his final illness and premature death at the (...)

"Letter From an Unknown Woman" (1922) by Stefan Zweig
The great Viennese-Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was a prolific writer of short stories, novelettes, novellas, historical studies, (...)
The great Viennese-Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was a prolific writer of short stories, novelettes, novellas, historical studies, essays, memoirs, and letters – as well as several plays, two books of poetry, an opera (...)
The great Viennese-Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was a prolific writer of short stories, novelettes, novellas, historical studies, essays, memoirs, and letters – as well as several plays, two books of poetry, an opera libretto and one full-length novel . In this 14,400-word (...)

"Hearts of Three" (1916) - a treasure-hunt adventure novel by Jack London (co-authored by Charles Goddard)
As Jack London recounts in the interesting foreword to this unusual book, not only was he incapable of writing a successful film script, but (...)
As Jack London recounts in the interesting foreword to this unusual book, not only was he incapable of writing a successful film script, but “because a man had written a score of novels was no guarantee that he could write a good (...)
As Jack London recounts in the interesting foreword to this unusual book, not only was he incapable of writing a successful film script, but “because a man had written a score of novels was no guarantee that he could write a good scenario. Quite to the contrary, it was quickly discovered that (...)

"Clothes Make People (Kleider machen Leute)" by Gottfried Keller (1874) - one of the most famous German-language stories now available in English
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories (...)
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories The People of Seldwyla about the mores and adventures of the people of the mythical but (...)
This famous story by the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was first published in 1874 in the second volume of his collection of stories The People of Seldwyla about the mores and adventures of the people of the mythical but somehow very typical Swiss town of that name. It recounts (...)

"Out of the Night" (1941) by Jan Valtin - an extraordinary memoir of life in the international Communist movement between the two World Wars
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international (...)
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international organization of all the Communist parties in the world - in the twenties and thirties, this is a (...)
This is the memoir of a militant and full-time party worker in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in the Comintern – the international organization of all the Communist parties in the world - in the twenties and thirties, this is a first-hand account of many of the dramatic events that shaped (...)

Jack London’s in-depth exploration of the (shocking) living conditions in London’s East End: "The People of the Abyss" (1903)
In 1902 the 25-year-old Jack London, who was already a veteran of a year of vagrant "hobo" wanderings around the American continent when he was (...)
In 1902 the 25-year-old Jack London, who was already a veteran of a year of vagrant "hobo" wanderings around the American continent when he was 17, of a year of sailing on a fishing boat in the Far Pacific when he was 18, and of a (...)
In 1902 the 25-year-old Jack London, who was already a veteran of a year of vagrant "hobo" wanderings around the American continent when he was 17, of a year of sailing on a fishing boat in the Far Pacific when he was 18, and of a year in the Klondike gold-rush in Canada’s Far North when he was (...)

Fifteen golden-age science-fiction stories by A. E. van Vogt
These fifteen stories are all fine examples of this great writer’s best work from his most creative period - the forties and early fifties, the (...)
These fifteen stories are all fine examples of this great writer’s best work from his most creative period - the forties and early fifties, the "golden age" of science-fiction. All of the stories published here are the original (...)
These fifteen stories are all fine examples of this great writer’s best work from his most creative period - the forties and early fifties, the "golden age" of science-fiction. All of the stories published here are the original magazine versions, with the magazine artwork and cover for each (...)

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Latest articles

  • "On the Water" and other stories by Guy de Maupassant

    by Guy de Maupassant

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. ON THE WATER (1876) The narrator tells us about the eerie adventure on the Seine of his neighbour, an enthusiastic boater and lover of the river and all its mysteries. (2,300 words)
    2. A NORMANDY JOKE (1882) At a wedding feast in the Normandy countryside the bridegroom (...)

  • The Huntsman and other Chekhov stories

    by Anton Chekhov

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. THE HUNTSMAN (1885) Yegor is hunting with his dog when he hears his name called by Pelagea, the young woman he had married twelve years previously and who is still hopelessly in love with him. (1,700 words)
    2. SORROW (1885) The introverted monologue of a peasant who is (...)

  • An anthology of famous French poems, with their English translations

    by Ray

    There is surely a consensus among cognoscenti that famous texts such as François Villon’s La ballade des pendus, (“Song of the Hanged Men”), Lamartine’s Le lac, (“The Lake”), Rimbaud’s Le bateau ivre (‘The Drunken Boat”) and Apollinaire’s Le pont Mirabeau (“The Mirabeau Bridge") are all among the (...)

  • A Selection of Tang Dynasty poems

    by Ray

    The Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) was a period of extraordinary flourishing of the Chinese civilisation in all domains, notably art and literature.
    No other civilisation has ever placed poetry on such an elevated pedestal in its scale of values: everyone with an education wrote poetry from the (...)

  • More of Jack London’s best Far North stories

    by Jack London

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. The Wife of a King (1899) A prospector has left his half-Indian wife to join the flood of gold-seekers in Dawson, and when he fails to return word comes back about his dallying with a casino dancer, the plucky wife sets off for Dawson in the thick of winter to see for (...)

  • "The Night" and other stories by Guy de Maupassant

    by Guy de Maupassant

    A selection of nine memorable tales by Guy de Maupassant, all in new English translations — two for the first time — that have been done specially for this site.
    e-books with the original French texts are available for downloading below.
    The original French texts can be seen here. TABLE OF (...)

  • "Lalie’s Story", from Zola’s novel "L’Assommoir" (1877)

    by Emile Zola

    Lalie is an eight-year-old girl living in the room next to Gervaise, the central character of Emile Zola’s novel "L’Assommoir" about life in a working-class district of Paris in the 1850s and 60s.
    She is one of the most unforgettable characters in that masterwork, although she only appears in (...)