Medieval England. King Richard the Lionheart was returning home from the Crusades when he was captured and imprisoned in Austria. His treacherous brother John has already seized the throne and refuses to pay a ransom for Richard. Meanwhile, the conflict between the Saxons and the Normans threatens to escalate into a civil war. Aivengo, the deprived son of Cedric, returns from the crusade to claim his inheritance and marry Rowena, a cousin and niece of Cedric, who seeks to marry the girl to the last offspring of the Saxon royal family....
Spouses Monark, once rich gentlemen, aristocrats. They lost their fortune and were now forced to look for work. Tall stately, graceful, graceful. Spouses considered themselves genuine samples, ideal for working as sitters. But the drawings always turned out to be the same, they looked like beautiful statues. And they were much inferior to real sitters, poor people without any position, but at the same time talented, artistic, able to transform, alive....
Andrew Lang is a British writer, translator, historian and ethnographer. "Coloured Fairy Books" is the famous series of fairy-tale collections compiled by Andrew Lang. It includes 25 books and The Arabian Nights Entertainments, one of which is a unique collection of magical Arabian stories....
Eugenia Grande was considered the most enviable bride in Saumur. Her father, a simple bochar, became rich during the Revolution, buying up confiscated church estates for nothing - the best vineyards and several farms in the Saumur district. He was elected mayor at the Consulate, and during the time of the Empire he was only called Mr. Grande - however, he was familiarly called "dad" by the eyes. No one knew exactly what capital the former Bochar had, but savvy people said that dad Grande had six to seven million francs loyal. Only two people could confirm this, but the notary Kruscho and the...
Kate Greenway is an artist, writer, one of the most famous British illustrators of children's books. The first publication dates back to 1868, when the greeting cards she painted were out of print. The first illustrated book by Kate Greenway is a collection of her own children's poems, “Under the Window.” In 1881, a book of English folk poetry by Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes was published with Greenway illustrations that have become classic. In the illustrations of Greenway, children and adults are most often dressed in stylized costumes of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries....
The play takes place in 48–47 years BC. e. in Egypt, where Julius Caesar arrived during the civil war and joined as a decisive force in the dynastic conflict between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. This is one of the most brilliant plays by Bernard Shaw, marked by an exciting dynamic plot, splendor of the language and lively characters....
Poet Danske Dandridge was born in Copenhagen, while her father, Henry Bedinger, was serving as ambassador to Denmark. She was christened Caroline Dane Bedinger, her father giving her the nickname Danske (‘‘Little Dane’’). She lived her life from age 19 in Shepherdstown. She lived for a brief time at the Bower, the historic Dandridge family home near Leetown, following her marriage to A. B. Dandridge in 1877. The family then moved to Poplar Grove, near Shepherdstown, which she inherited from the Bedingers and renamed Rosebrake. She was educated at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia....
Gaston Leroux wrote one of the most inspired theater stories. Based on her motives, films, musicals and theatrical productions were created. Within the walls of the famous opera house, in the center of Paris, a mysterious ghost lives. A young, very beautiful simple chorus girl Kristina Dae becomes, under his leadership, a famous singer with a bewitching voice. But the young viscount Raul de Chagni entered her life. The girl is confused. The past returns to pursue her in a mask of death, the future is foggy, and the present is unsteady. Who will be able to win the girl’s heart: the handsome...
The novel is about a Midwestern girl, Undine Spragg, who was born into a nouveau riche family. She lives in the province, but dreams of a completely different life. To get into the high society of New York, and then conquer Europe and the whole world, the provincial is ready to sacrifice even the closest people. Spragg intends to overcome many obstacles to achieve his goal, because her main dream remains a high position in society....
Siegfried Sassoon - born in Kent, studied at Marlborough and Cambridge. Member of the First World War, officer. He was awarded a military cross. Like W. Owen, belongs to the group of "trench poets." In 1917, S. Sassun stated that "the goals for which the war is being fought are not worth so much suffering." English criticism called Siegfried Sassoon’s poems “an explosion of incandescent anger.” After the war, S. Sassun was engaged in literary criticism, published several books of poetry, but the best that he created relates to the period of the First World War....
The interweaving of realistic narratives and fairy tales with gothic elements, "bizarre", "strange and grotesque" characters, dark secrets. In the novel about Nell, the little girl of the "infinitely sweet temper", her grandfather, the mind-boggling dreamer-gambler, and the cruel dwarf pursuing them the money-lender Quilpe - the eternal theme of the confrontation between good and evil. One of the most touching novels of C. Dickens....
The family lives in a small mountain cottage on the outskirts of the village, their life flows calmly and leisurely. Walt is a dreamy, creative person, earns a living by writing poetry, hardworking and affectionate Madge is engaged in the house. Young people are happy together, despite the periodic financial difficulties to which they relate philosophically. The even course of their life disrupts the appearance of a wild beast in their garden. An emaciated wolf with its paws broken in blood falls by the stream behind their house and remains there, unable to move on. Spouses cautiously feed an...
Jeeves and Wooster is a popular series of comedy novels and short stories by the English writer P. G. Wodehouse about the adventures of the young English aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The novel about Worcester and Jeeves takes place mainly in London, its suburbs, and in New York at the beginning of the 20th century. Bertie Wooster is a young rich aristocrat-idler from the "golden youth" who, in general, does not shine with his mind, but is at the same time a true noble gentleman. In the novel, he invariably appears in the company of his resourceful and erudite valet Jeeves,...
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player and mathematician, a representative of a positional school, and the second world chess champion (he won this title from Steinitz in 1894 and lost to Capablanca in 1921). Lasker retained the title of world champion for 27 years, which is a record achievement for chess. Even after losing the championship title, he continued to perform at the highest level until the age of 68....
José Raúl Capablanca - Cuban chess player, chess writer, diplomat, 3rd world chess champion (won the title in a match with Lasker in 1921, lost to Alekhine in 1927), one of the strongest chess players in the world in the 1910 - 1930s, winner of many international tournaments. In its heyday, Capablanca gained fame as a “chess machine”, equally masterly leading the party in the middlegame and the endgame and almost error-free. In official high-level meetings (since 1909), Capablanca lost only 34 games, and from 1916 to 1924 remained undefeated....
