Books with category 💧 Drama
Displaying books 1009-1056 of 1104 in total

Novel with Cocaine

1984

by M. Ageyev

Novel with Cocaine delves into the depths of an adolescent's cocaine addiction, presenting a Dostoevskian psychological novel of ideas. It explores the complex interplay between psychology, philosophy, and ideology through the story of Vadim, who, after formative experiences at school and with women, succumbs to drug abuse and the philosophical reflections it provokes.

Though the narrative makes little direct reference to the Revolution, it's set against a backdrop where the obsession with addictive forms of thinking resonates with the historical context. The novel critically examines how "our inborn feelings of humanity and justice" can lead to "the cruelties and satanic transgressions committed in its name."

Equus

1984

by Peter Shaffer

Equus is a powerful exploration of the way modern society has destroyed our ability to feel passion. The story follows Alan Strang, a disturbed youth whose dangerous obsession with horses leads him to commit an unspeakable act of violence.

As psychiatrist Martin Dysart struggles to understand the motivation for Alan's brutality, he is increasingly drawn into Alan's web and eventually forced to question his own sanity.

Peter Shaffer creates a chilling portrait of how materialism and convenience have killed our capacity for worship and passion, and, consequently, our capacity for pain. Rarely has a playwright created an atmosphere and situation that so harshly pinpoint the spiritual and mental decay of modern man.

Equus is a timeless classic and a cornerstone of contemporary drama that delves into the darkest recesses of human existence.

The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

1984

by Aeschylus

In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos.

Moving from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration.

Rabbit, Run

1983

by John Updike

Rabbit, Run is the book that established John Updike as one of the major American novelists of his—or any other—generation. Its hero is Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a onetime high-school basketball star who on an impulse deserts his wife and son. He is twenty-six years old, a man-child caught in a struggle between instinct and thought, self and society, sexual gratification and family duty—even, in a sense, human hard-heartedness and divine Grace. Though his flight from home traces a zigzag of evasion, he holds to the faith that he is on the right path, an invisible line toward his own salvation as straight as a ruler’s edge.

Angels

1983

by Denis Johnson

Angels tells the story of two born losers. Jamie has ditched her husband and is running away with her two baby girls. Bill is dreaming of making it big in a life of crime. They meet on a Greyhound bus and decide to team up.

So begins a stunning, tragic odyssey through the dark underbelly of America – the bars, bus stations, mental wards, and prisons that play host to Jamie and Bill as they find themselves trapped in a downward spiral through rape, alcohol, drugs, and crime, to madness and death.

From the author of Tree of Smoke, this novel offers a vivid portrayal of America's dispossessed, lighting the trek with wit and a personal metaphysics that defiantly takes on the world.

Different Seasons

1983

by Stephen King

Different Seasons is a gripping collection of four novellas by Stephen King, each narrative presenting a distinct tone and season, offering a departure from the author's signature horror genre.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - A profound tale of injustice and an unconventional escape, echoing the sentiments of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Apt Pupil - The disturbing bond between a seemingly perfect California schoolboy and an old man with a horrific history, culminating in a chilling symbiosis.

The Body - A coming-of-age story where four adventurous boys encounter life, death, and the stark reality of mortality in the Maine woods.

The Breathing Method - A mysterious narrative shared within an unusual club, about a woman's unwavering determination to give birth against all odds.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Carson McCullers’ prodigious first novel was published to instant acclaim when she was just twenty-three. Set in a small town in the middle of the deep South, it is the story of John Singer, a lonely deaf-mute, and a disparate group of people who are drawn towards his kind, sympathetic nature. The owner of the café where Singer eats every day, a young girl desperate to grow up, an angry drunkard, a frustrated black doctor: each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant, and he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways they could never imagine.

The Good Soldier

1982

by Ford Madox Ford

A Tale of Passion, as its subtitle declares, The Good Soldier relates the complex social and sexual relationships between two couples, one English, one American, and the growing awareness by the American narrator John Dowell of the intrigues and passions behind their orderly Edwardian facade. It is the attitude of Dowell, his puzzlement, his uncertainty, and the seemingly haphazard manner of his narration that make the book so powerful and mysterious.

Despite its catalogue of death, insanity, and despair, the novel has many comic moments, and has inspired the work of several distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. This is the only annotated edition available.

Apt Pupil

1982

by Stephen King

Todd Bowden is an apt pupil. Good grades, good family, a paper route. But he is about to meet a different kind of teacher: Mr. Dussander. Todd knows all about Dussander's dark past. The torture. The death. The decades-old manhunt Dussander has escaped to this day. Yet Todd doesn't want to turn him in. Todd wants to know more. Much more.

He is about to learn the real meaning of power—and the seductive lure of evil.

Cujo

1982

by Stephen King

Cujo is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.

Flowers in the Attic

1982

by V.C. Andrews

Such wonderful children. Such a beautiful mother. Such a lovely house. Such endless terror!

It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake—a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father.

So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic. Just for a little while. But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work—children who—one by one—must be destroyed....

Way upstairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent struggling to stay alive....

A Woman of Substance

A celebration of an indomitable spirit, here is New York Times bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford's dazzling saga of a woman who dared to dream--and to triumph against all odds...

In the brooding moors above a humble Yorkshire village stood Fairley Hall. There, Emma Harte, its oppressed but resourceful servant girl, acquired a shrewd determination. There, she honed her skills, discovered the meaning of treachery, learned to survive, to become a woman, and vowed to make her mark on the world.

In the wake of tragedy she rose from poverty to magnificent wealth as the iron-willed force behind a thriving international enterprise. As one of the richest women in the world Emma Harte has almost everything she fought so hard to achieve--save for the dream of love, and for the passion of the one man she could never have. Through two marriages, two devastating wars, and generations of secrets, Emma's unparalleled success has come with a price. As greed, envy, and revenge consume those closest to her, the brilliant matriarch now finds herself poised to outwit her enemies, and to face the betrayals of the past with the same ingenious resolve that forged her empire.

Petersburg

1979

by Andrei Bely

Petersburg takes place over a short, turbulent period in 1905, offering a colorful evocation of Russia's capital. This novel is a kaleidoscope of images and impressions, an eastern window on the west, symbolizing the ambiguities and paradoxes of the Russian character.

History, culture, and politics are blended and juxtaposed; weather reports, current news, fashions, and psychology jostle together with people from Petersburg society in an exhilarating search for the identity of a city and, ultimately, Russia itself.

Tales of the City

San Francisco, 1976. A naïve young secretary, fresh out of Cleveland, tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, pot-growing landladies, cutthroat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic, romantic, tawdry, touching, and outrageous—unmistakably the handiwork of Armistead Maupin.

Rich Man, Poor Man

1978

by Irwin Shaw

Rich Man, Poor Man is a captivating saga that explores the lives of two brothers in post-war America. This engrossing novel, so well written and fascinating, is the first of its series and one of Irwin Shaw's best works.

The story follows Rudolph, Gretchen, and Thomas Jordache, the children of an embittered German immigrant, as they navigate the quarter-century following World War II. Nurtured on traditional views of the American dream, each sibling pursues their own path to happiness and success.

Set in a small town on the Hudson River, this sprawling saga captures the essence of American life during a period of significant change. The family's journey is a gripping ride through a world devastated by conflict and transformed by commerce and culture.

Rich Man, Poor Man was the inspiration for one of the first primetime TV mini-series, further cementing its place in American cultural history.

Dying of the Light

A whisperjewel has summoned Dirk t’Larien to Worlorn, and a love he thinks he lost. But Worlorn isn’t the world Dirk imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight. Gwen needs Dirk’s protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it’s becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise.

Moonraker's Bride

1978

by Madeleine Brent

Born in a Mission in China, Lucy Waring finds herself with fifteen small children to feed and care for. The way she tackles this task leads to her being thrown into the grim prison of Chengfu, where she meets Nicholas Sabine - a man about to die. He asks her a cryptic riddle, the mystery of which echoes through all that befalls her in the months that follow...

She is brought to England and tries to make a new life with the Gresham family, but she is constantly in disgrace and is soon involved in the bitter feud between the Greshams and a neighbouring family.

There is danger, romance, and heartache for Lucy as strange events build to a point where she begins to doubt her own senses. How could she see a man, long dead, walking in the misty darkness of the valley? And who carried her, unconscious, into the labyrinth of Chiselhurst Caves and left her to die?

It is not until she returns to China that Lucy finds, amid high adventure, the answer to all that has baffled her.

Rage

1977

by Richard Bachman

Rage tells the story of a disturbed high-school student, Charlie Decker, who has severe authority problems. In a moment of extreme tension, he kills one of his teachers and takes the rest of his class hostage.

Over the course of one long, unbearably hot afternoon, Charlie explains what led him to this drastic sequence of events. He deconstructs the personalities of his classmates, forcing each one to justify his or her existence in a gripping narrative.

Shanna

Behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison, a pact is sealed in secret as a dashing and doomed criminal consents to wed a beautiful heiress in return for one night of unparalleled pleasure. In the fading echoes of hollow wedding vows, a promise is broken as a sensuous free-spirit flees to a lush Caribbean paradise, abandoning the handsome stranger she married to the gallows.

Ruark Beauchamp's destiny is now eternally intertwined with his exquisite, tempestuous Shanna's. No iron ever forged can imprison his magnificent passion, and no hangman's noose will deny him the ecstasy that is rightfully his.

De Profundis and Other Writings

1976

by Oscar Wilde

De Profundis and Other Writings is a profound collection of works by the renowned Oscar Wilde. This collection showcases Wilde's humorous and epigrammatic genius that once captivated the London theatre. Through his writing, Wilde casts light from unexpected angles, thus widening the bounds of truth.

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?

1976

by Raymond Carver

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? is the first collection of stories from Raymond Carver, a master of the short story form. Carver breathed new life into the short story, crafting tales that reveal the humor and tragedy dwelling in the hearts of ordinary people.

In his pared-down style, which has become his hallmark, Carver offers a glimpse into the complexities of human experience. Each story in this collection is a testament to his ability to capture life's nuances with brilliance and depth.

This collection not only won Carver a devoted readership but also secured his place among the greats of American literature. His stories are a celebration of the ordinary, inviting readers to explore the profound within the everyday.

Our Town

1975

by Thornton Wilder

Our Town was first produced and published in 1938 to wide acclaim. This Pulitzer Prize–winning drama of life in the town of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic. It is Thornton Wilder's most renowned and most frequently performed play.

It is now reissued in this handsome hardcover edition, featuring a new Foreword by Donald Margulies, who writes, "You are holding in your hands a great American play. Possibly the great American play." In addition, Tappan Wilder has written an eye-opening new Afterword, which includes Thornton Wilder's unpublished notes and other illuminating photographs and documentary material.

Rumble Fish

1975

by S.E. Hinton

Rusty-James is the toughest guy in the group of high-school kids who hang out and shoot pool down at Benny's. He enjoys keeping up his reputation. What he wants most of all is to be just like his older brother, the Motorcycle Boy. He wants to stay calm and laughing when things get dangerous, to be the toughest street fighter and the most respected guy on their side of the river.

Rusty-James isn't book-smart, and he knows it. He relies on his fists instead of his brains. Until now, he's gotten along all right, because whenever he gets into trouble, the Motorcycle Boy bails him out. But Rusty-James' drive to be like his brother eats away at his world—until it all comes apart in an explosive chain of events. And this time, the Motorcycle Boy isn't around to pick up the pieces.

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Few novels have caused as much debate as Hubert Selby Jr.'s notorious masterpiece, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and this Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting.

Described by various reviewers as hellish and obscene, Last Exit to Brooklyn tells the stories of New Yorkers who at every turn confront the worst excesses in human nature. Yet there are moments of exquisite tenderness in these troubled lives. Georgette, the transvestite who falls in love with a callous hoodlum; Tralala, the conniving prostitute who plumbs the depths of sexual degradation; and Harry, the strike leader who hides his true desires behind a boorish masculinity, are unforgettable creations.

Hubert Selby, Jr. (1928-2004) was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 15, he dropped out of school and went to sea with the merchant marines. While at sea he was diagnosed with lung disease. With no other way to make a living, he decided to try writing: 'I knew the alphabet. Maybe I could be a writer.' In 1964 he completed his first book, Last Exit to Brooklyn, which has since become a cult classic. In 1966, it was the subject of an obscenity trial in the UK. His other books include The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream, The Willow Tree and Waiting Period. In 2000, Requiem for a Dream was adapted into a film starring Jared Leto and Ellen Burstyn, and directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Malina

Malina tells the story of lives painfully intertwined: the unnamed narrator, haunted by nightmarish memories of her father, lives with the androgynous Malina, an initially remote and dispassionate man who ultimately becomes an ominous influence. Plunging toward its riveting finale, Malina brutally lays bare the struggle for love and the limits of discourse between women and men.

Season of Migration to the North

1970

by Tayeb Salih

After years of study in Europe, the young narrator of Season of Migration to the North returns to his village along the Nile in the Sudan. It is the 1960s, and he is eager to make a contribution to the new postcolonial life of his country. Back home, he discovers a stranger among the familiar faces of childhood—the enigmatic Mustafa Sa’eed.

Mustafa takes the young man into his confidence, telling him the story of his own years in London, of his brilliant career as an economist, and of the series of fraught and deadly relationships with European women that led to a terrible public reckoning and his return to his native land.

But what is the meaning of Mustafa’s shocking confession? Mustafa disappears without explanation, leaving the young man—whom he has asked to look after his wife—in an unsettled and violent no-man’s-land between Europe and Africa, tradition and innovation, holiness and defilement, and man and woman, from which no one will escape unaltered or unharmed.

Season of Migration to the North is a rich and sensual work of deep honesty and incandescent lyricism. In 2001 it was selected by a panel of Arab writers and critics as the most important Arab novel of the twentieth century.

Η αίθουσα του θρόνου

In this captivating novel, Tasos Athanasiadis presents a group of young men and women as they enjoy the summer days on a fictional island in the Cyclades. Beneath their apparent bliss and the dazzling Aegean sky, they hear the tormenting voice whispering within them that it's time to make a serious decision about their future.

The author vividly brings to life their psychological reactions to events that surprise their plans for this future, with scenes of sensual intoxication and dramatic uncertainty. This book, translated into German, was met with praise from foreign critics and described as "a masterpiece from Greece," "one of the most important European novels of our time," and "an epic of reconciliation of peoples."

Spring Snow

1968

by Yukio Mishima

Tokyo, 1912. The closed world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders - rich provincial families, a new and powerful political and social elite.

Kiyoaki has been raised among the elegant Ayakura family - members of the waning aristocracy - but he is not one of them. Coming of age, he is caught up in the tensions between the old and the new, and his feelings for the exquisite, spirited Satoko, observed from the sidelines by his devoted friend Honda.

When Satoko is engaged to a royal prince, Kiyoaki realises the magnitude of his passion.

Endless Night

1967

by Agatha Christie

Gipsy's Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers, it stirred a child-like fantasy. There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned to build a house, find a girl, and live happily ever after. Yet, as he left the village, a shadow of menace hung over the land. This was the place where accidents happened.

Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: 'There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.' Michael Rogers is a man who is about to learn the true meaning of the old saying 'In my end is my beginning.'

The title Endless Night was taken from William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence and describes Christie’s favorite theme in the novel: a “twisted” character, who always chooses evil over good.

ثرثرة فوق النيل

1966

by Naguib Mahfouz

ثرثرة فوق النيل is set in the late sixties, a time of significant social change. The story follows a group of friends who gather night after night on a houseboat on the Nile. Under the moonlight, they smoke, chat, and inhabit a cozy and enchanted world. However, one night, Art and Reality collide with unforeseen consequences.

In this thrilling and deeply serious tale, Mahfouz exposes the human and artistic dilemmas of modern times, skillfully blending philosophical musings with social commentary.

Valley of the Dolls

Dolls: red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straight—for Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, it doesn't matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three women become best friends when they are young and struggling in New York City and then climb to the top of the entertainment industry—only to find that there is no place left to go but down—into the Valley of the Dolls.

The Holy Terrors

1966

by Jean Cocteau

Les Enfants Terribles holds an undisputed place among the classics of modern fiction. Written in a French style that long defied successful translation, Cocteau was always a poet no matter what he was writing.

The book came into its own for English-language readers in 1955 when the present version was completed by Rosamond Lehmann. It is a masterpiece of the art of translation. Miss Lehmann was able to capture the essence of Cocteau's strange, necromantic imagination and to bring fully to life in English his story of a brother and sister, orphaned in adolescence, who build themselves a private world out of one shared room and their own unbridled fantasies.

What started in games and laughter became for Paul and Elisabeth a drug too magical to resist. The crime which finally destroyed them has the inevitability of Greek tragedy.

Illustrated with twenty of Cocteau's own drawings.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

1964

by Hannah Green

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is the story of a sixteen-year-old who retreats from reality into the bondage of a lushly imagined but threatening kingdom, and her slow and painful journey back to sanity.

Chronicles the three-year battle of a mentally ill, but perceptive, teenage girl against a world of her own creation, emphasizing her relationship with the doctor who gave her the ammunition of self-understanding with which to help herself.

Joanne Greenberg wrote this novel, which is a fictionalized autobiography, to give a picture of what being schizophrenic feels like and what can be accomplished with a trusting relationship between a gifted therapist and a willing patient. It is not a case history or study. She likes to think it is a hymn to reality.

Faust

Goethe’s Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephisto and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.

The best translation of Faust available, this volume provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages. Walter Kaufmann's translation conveys the poetic beauty and rhythm as well as the complex depth of Goethe's language. Includes Part One and selections from Part Two.

Täällä Pohjantähden alla 1–3

1962

by Väinö Linna

Väinö Linnan suurteos Täällä Pohjantähden alla on piirtynyt suomalaisten muistiin lähihistorian näkemyksellisenä kuvauksena. Sen sivuilla syrjäinen hämäläiskylä elää alkuvoimaista, maanläheistä elämäänsä kansamme suurina murroskausina.

Trilogian ajallisina rajakohtina ovat helmikuun manifestia edeltänyt vuosikymmen, josta edetään torppariperheiden tragedian kautta kansalaissotaan ja Suomen itsenäisyyden vuosikymmeniin aina 1950-luvulle saakka.

Varttuneempi lukijapolvi tuntee katselevansa silmästä silmään omiakin kokemuksiaan, nuoremmille avautuu ennen tuntemattomia näkymiä kansakunnan kulkemalta tieltä.

Confessions of a Mask

Confessions of a Mask tells the story of Kochan, an adolescent boy tormented by his burgeoning attraction to men: he wants to be “normal.” Kochan is meek-bodied, and unable to participate in the more athletic activities of his classmates. He begins to notice his growing attraction to some of the boys in his class, particularly the pubescent body of his friend Omi. To hide his homosexuality, he courts a woman, Sonoko, but this exacerbates his feelings for men.

As news of the War reaches Tokyo, Kochan considers the fate of Japan and his place within its deeply rooted propriety. Confessions of a Mask reflects Mishima’s own coming of age in post-war Japan.

Η μεγάλη χίμαιρα

1953

by M. Karagatsis

Η μεγάλη χίμαιρα είναι ένα λεπτομερές ψυχογράφημα. Ο συγγραφέας καταπιάνεται με έναν γυναικείο χαρακτήρα και τον αναλύει συστηματικά. Η ιστορία της Μαρίνας, μιας νεαρής Γαλλίδας που ερωτεύεται, παντρεύεται και ακολουθεί τον άνδρα της στη Σύρο, στο πατρικό του σπίτι της Επισκοπής.

Εκεί ζει, κάτω από τον βαρύ, αποδοκιμαστικό ίσκιο της πεθεράς της. Καθώς η Μαρίνα συνδέει την τύχη της με τα βαπόρια του άνδρα της, κάθε ψυχική της αναταραχή έχει περίεργες συνέπειες πάνω στη ζωή τους.

Όταν έρχεται η οικονομική καταστροφή που είναι συνδεδεμένη με την ψυχική φθορά της ηρωίδας, τότε όλα μπαίνουν στο φαύλο κύκλο του έρωτα και του θανάτου.

Death of a Salesman

1949

by Arthur Miller

For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. Willy Loman has been a salesman for 34 years. At 60, he is cast aside, his usefulness now exhausted. With no future to dream about he must face the crushing disappointments of his past. He takes one final brave action, but is he heroic at last, or a self-deluding fool?

An Inspector Calls

1945

by J.B. Priestley

An Inspector Calls unfolds in an English industrial city, where a young girl has tragically committed suicide. A respectable British family finds themselves under scrutiny as an inspector arrives to interrogate them about their connections to the deceased.

As the questioning progresses, each family member is revealed to have played a role, whether lightly or deeply, in the girl's demise. Initially portrayed as a closely-knit and amiable group, the family's true nature is exposed, revealing selfishness, cowardice, and self-centeredness. Their good humor and camaraderie deteriorate into acidic disdain and dislike as the evening unfolds.

The play takes a surprising turn with a revelation about the inspector, making it a gripping narrative that delves deep into themes of morality and social responsibility.

Our Lady of the Flowers

1943

by Jean Genet

Jean Genet's seminal Our Lady Of The Flowers (1943) is generally considered to be his finest fictional work. The first draft was written while Genet was incarcerated in a French prison; when the manuscript was discovered and destroyed by officials, Genet, still a prisoner, immediately set about writing it again.

It isn't difficult to understand how and why Genet was able to reproduce the novel under such circumstances, because Our Lady Of The Flowers is nothing less than a mythic recreation of Genet's past and then-present history.

Combining memories with facts, fantasies, speculations, irrational dreams, tender emotion, empathy, and philosophical insights, Genet probably made his isolation bearable by retreating into a world not only of his own making, but one over which he had total control.

İçimizdeki Şeytan

1940

by Sabahattin Ali

İçimizdeki Şeytan is a profound exploration of the human psyche and societal pressures. In this novel, Sabahattin Ali masterfully depicts how the inner devil – a metaphor for our weaknesses and fears – can dominate our actions and decisions.

Ali writes, "Is there really a devil inside us? This is merely a clever excuse for our pride and foolishness. There is no devil; there is helplessness, laziness, lack of willpower, ignorance, and something even more terrifying: the habit of avoiding truths."

Through the story of Macide and Ömer, the novel illustrates the struggles of individuals trapped by societal expectations and personal limitations. The narrative is rich with inner dialogues and self-reflection, providing a sharp insight into the human condition.

This work remains a critical commentary on the intellectual darkness of those who consider themselves enlightened and offers a piercing look into the "devil within."

Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust

1939

by Nathanael West

Miss Lonelyhearts was a newspaper reporter, so named because he had been assigned to write the agony column, to answer the letters from Desperate, Sick-of-It-All, Disillusioned. A joke at first; but then he was caught up, terrifyingly, in a vision of suffering, and he sought a way out, turning first here, then there—Art, Sex, Religion. Shrike, the cynical editor, the friend and enemy, compulsively destroyed each of his friend’s gestures toward idealism. Together, in the city’s dim underworld, Shrike and Miss Lonelyhearts turn round and round in a loathsome dance, unresolvable, hating until death…

The Day of the Locust To Hollywood comes Tod Hackett, hoping for a career in scene designing, but he finds the way hard and falls in with others—extras, technicians, old vaudeville hands—who are also in difficulty. Around him he sees the great mass of inland Americans who have retired to California in expectation of health and ease. But boredom consumes them, their own emptiness maddens them; they search out any abnormality in their lust for excitement—drugs, perversion, crime. In the end only blood will serve; unreasoned, undirected violence. The day of the locust is at hand…

I, Claudius/Claudius the God

1934

by Robert Graves

Clau-Clau-Claudius the stammerer was known as a buffoon and a pitiful fool. He made it his business to watch from the sidelines and record the antics, funny, violent, and lustful, of the imperial household as its members vied with each other for power. Then he found himself Emperor.

From the great days of Augustus and the cruelties of Tiberius to the deified insanity of Caligula, he records a story breathtaking in its murderousness, greed, and folly. Throughout the swings of fortune, his own disastrous love affair with the depraved Messalina and surprisingly successful reign, his voice sometimes puzzled, sometimes rueful, always sane, speaks to us across the centuries in two great, classic historical novels.

A High Wind in Jamaica

1929

by Richard Hughes

A High Wind in Jamaica is a classic adventure novel and a brilliant chronicle of two sensitive children's violent voyage from innocence to experience.

After a terrible hurricane levels their Jamaican estate, the Bas-Thorntons decide to send their children back to the safety and comfort of England. On the way, their ship is set upon by pirates, and the children are accidentally transferred to the pirate vessel. Jonsen, the well-meaning pirate captain, doesn't know how to dispose of his new cargo, while the children adjust with surprising ease to their new life.

As this strange company drifts around the Caribbean, events turn more frightening, and the pirates find themselves increasingly incriminated by the children's fates. The most shocking betrayal, however, will take place only after the return to civilization.

The swift, almost hallucinatory action of Hughes's novel, together with its provocative insight into the psychology of children, made it a bestseller when it was first published in 1929. It has since established itself as a classic of twentieth-century literature—an unequaled exploration of the nature, and limits, of innocence.

...And the Stars Will Sing

In the far future, travel is made possible by controlled wormholes made in the fabric of space-time. Crystal, a young woman freshly graduated from university, finds herself on her first job aboard the base-ship 'Crossing Paths'. Workplace politics and a romance make it complicated. The last thing she needs are the frightening errors beginning to crop up on her maps...

23:27

Fame. Money. Glory. These were all the things that you would expect from being famous. The bait that the producers of the industry would tempt you with to get you on their side.

What they don't tell you, though, are all the inner tragedies that come along just as quickly. They don't tell you about the heartache that occurs when you realize that this wasn't what you wanted at all. They don't tell you about the pressure that's always on the verge of crushing you when you're forced to do everything that the public demands and not what you truly desire. They don't tell you about the self-hatred that would soon take over your entire being at the thought that you will never be good enough.

No - they don't tell you these things at all. But, Lilith Rose will.

Lilith Rose, lead singer of one of the most famous rock bands around, gets tired of all the lies and secrets that come with being famous. She decides that it's time for all of it to stop and ends up revealing everything on a Facebook live stream.

The result... "Part of me wants to die tonight, part of me wants it to be an accident, and part of me wants someone to notice and save me." - Lilith Rose.

Accuse

Isolated by the dark secrets he carries, Grant Wilkinson, the damaged and decorated war hero, has always seen himself as a monster. He's finally getting his life on track by embracing the help he needs from Renata Koreman, the equally damaged little mouse.

André Chevalier saw Grant and Renata’s ragged edges as puzzle pieces that would fit flawlessly together. He made the right decision when he put the Monster and the Mouse together.

There’s just one problem:
Did Grant murder his father?

Addressed To Her: A Short Story

Being the sole bearer of the truth, and responsible for delivering a package of grave importance, Harshvardhan Singh travels to the address of the addressee, only to find himself in the midst of a celebratory household. Knowing his very life hangs by a fragile thread, will he be able to deliver the package in time, before everything he has ever known obliterates into nothingness?

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