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 novel . In this 14,000-word novelette, a (...)

"Shock-Headed Peter (Der Struwwelpeter)" (1845) by Heinrich Hoffmann, an extraordinary set of illustrated lessons showing children how to behave – or else!
Dr. Heinrich Hoffman (1809-1894) drew this sketchbook with verse lessons for his three-year-old son as a Christmas present for him in 1844, after (...)
Dr. Heinrich Hoffman (1809-1894) drew this sketchbook with verse lessons for his three-year-old son as a Christmas present for him in 1844, after having been unable to find any books able to really interest someone of that age in the (...)
Dr. Heinrich Hoffman (1809-1894) drew this sketchbook with verse lessons for his three-year-old son as a Christmas present for him in 1844, after having been unable to find any books able to really interest someone of that age in the bookstores in his town of Frankfurt – they were all either too (...)

"The Weapon Shops of Isher" (1949) - a major golden-age novella by A. E. van Vogt never before republished!
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first published (...)
This long, well-developed novella, revisiting the saga of the mysterious "Weapon Shops" organization that acts as a check-and balance on the powers of the world-dominant Isher dynasty some 7000 years in the future, was first published as the cover story of the February 1949 issue of Thrilling (...)

"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 (...)

"Farewell to the Master (The Day the Earth Stood Still)" (1940) by Harry Bates
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of (...)
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of one of the most highly-regarded science-fiction films of its time and even all time, the (...)
First published in the splendid October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , this extremely ambitious 50-page novella became the basis of one of the most highly-regarded science-fiction films of its time and even all time, the quite wonderful "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), (...)

"Destination Universe!" - A. E. van Vogt’s superb first anthology of his science-fiction short stories (1952)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. e-books with the full texts of all of these stories are available for (...)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. e-books with the full texts of all of these stories are available for downloading below. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by A. E. van Vogt. 1. Far Centaurus (1944) (...)
With the original magazine texts, artwork and covers of each story. e-books with the full texts of all of these stories are available for downloading below. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by A. E. van Vogt. 1. Far Centaurus (1944) Getting to Centaurus on a spaceship can take a long time (...)

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Latest articles

  • "Burning Secret" (1911) by Stefan Zweig

    by Stefan Zweig

    In in the celebrated Austrian mountain resort of Semmering an experienced ladies’ man sets his sights on an attractive woman who has come there with her sickly twelve-year-old son for a cure, and cleverly first strikes up a friendship with the boy as a way to his mother’s heart. This stratagem is (...)

  • German prefixes and suffixes - an overview

    by Ray

    The German language has a large number of prefixes and suffixes whose function is to enable the formation of an open-ended number of new words by adding new nuances, aspects and dimensions to other words.
    These powerful tools can be added in front of or behind just about anything to create (...)

  • The complete stories of Stefan Zweig - synopses, comments and ratings

    by Ray

    Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), born and raised in the glorious pre-WW1 Vienna of the Belle Epoque, was one of the most outstanding European intellectuals of the 20th century, and a prolific writer of stories, biographies, historical studies, essays, travel journals, memoirs and letters – as well as (...)

  • "Anyuta" and other Chekhov stories

    by Anton Chekhov

    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. A DEAD BODY (1885) A corpse wrapped in linen is lying under a tree in the middle of a misty August night, dutifully watched over by two peasants who are keeping a fire alive. They listen to the sounds of the forest and talk to fight off their feelings of eeriness when a (...)

  • "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 (...)