Nervous by Mrs. Hudson's visit, Dr. Watson finds his friend Sherlock Holmes in terrible condition. The great detective contracted a deadly virus and you need to stay away from him. Dr. Watson wants to invite the best virus specialist, but Holmes protests so much that Watson is scared. It was scary to look at Holmes - anyone would be struck by the sight of his thin, emaciated face with a sickly blush. The detective’s thin hands frantically moved along the blanket, the voice of the great Holmes was hoarse and breaking. What kind of affliction struck Holmes, who was dying?...
On January the Fifth, 1888--that is eleven months and four days after-my uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard the Lady Vain at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was picked up in latitude 5 degrees 3' S. and longitude 101 degrees W. in a small open boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have belonged to the missing schooner Ipecacuanha. He gave such a strange account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from the Lady Vain. His case was...
The name of Bram Stoker needs no introduction - for more than a hundred years, the novel "Dracula" has not left the lists of best-sellers of different countries in the category "mysticism". And only true connoisseurs know that Stocker is also the author of small prose, written in the best traditions of classical English literature of the turn of the century. Bram Stoker in little prose showed himself no less creatively, vividly and mysteriously than in his most famous novel. Who in their right mind decides to take a night walk during Walpurgis Night, when there is a “great Sabbath” on Brocken...
The Beggar's Opera is a satirical play, reflecting various aspects of English reality at the beginning of the 18th century. The author, among others, sought to reveal to the reader the shortcomings of modern society, which seemed very far from perfect. Moreover, he largely took into account the interests of the people who experienced severe oppression. Serious and deep criticism of the political and social life of England at the beginning of the 18th century is the main task that the playwright set himself when creating the “The Beggar's Opera”. In the play, Gay parodies the Italian opera and...
A natural pause appears to have come in the career of Mr. H.G. Wells. After so many years of travelling up and down through time and space, familiarizing himself with all the various parts of the solar system and presenting himself imaginatively at all the various geological epochs, from the Stone Age to the end of the world, he has for good and all domesticated himself in his own planet and point of time. This gradual process of slowing down, so to speak, had been evident from the moment of his first appearance. The most obvious fact about his romances of science, considered as a series, is...
Forme of Cury is an extensive collection of medieval English recipes from the 14th century. It was originally a scroll of master chef king Richard II. The manuscript is one of the most famous medieval cookbooks. This is the first English book to mention the use of olive oil, pumpkin, mustard and spices such as nutmeg and cloves in English cooking. Contains about 205 recipes....
Here is a story that has been at rest for seven hundred years. It was first suppressed by one of the English kings of Plantagenet. It was later forgotten. I happened to dig it by accident. The incident was the relationship of my wife's cousin with a certain abbot of a father in a very ancient monastery in Europe. He let me figure out the number of moldy and musty manuscripts, and I came across this. This is very interesting - partly because it is a bit of an unwritten story, but mainly because it records the story of the most remarkable revenge and adventurous life of her innocent victim -...
The author wrote this book to show the two extremes of the decisions we make in life. Two people made their free choice based on life experience and education. The contrast of religions, also shown in the book, prompts reflection on philosophy....
A man may be a scoundrel, a crook, a high-phased confidence man, and still work toward a great dream which will be worth far more than the momentary damage his swindles cost....
"Strayed off again--the young idiot! If he's playing in the shallows, with this tide going out...." Pater let the sentence hang blackly. He leaned upslope as far as he could stretch, angrily scanning the shoreward reaches where light filtered more brightly down through the murky water, where the sea-surface glinted like bits of broken mirror....
“The heart of the wise is in the house of weeping, and the heart of the foolish is in the house of fun,” warned the biblical Ecclesiastes. So for the young beauty Lily Bart, New York at the turn of the century symbolizes not only the Golden Age, but the golden cage. Only a profitable marriage will help her regain the high position lost by the Bart family as a result of her father's bankruptcy - but over and over again Lily misses a profitable chance, consumed either by the demon of self-destruction, or by the expectation of great love. And not without reason she was compared with another...
This book has cultural and historical significance, as knowledge of the literature of civilization, as we know it. The author did a great job collecting in one book works and an analysis of these works, which allows a different look at familiar stories....
Daniel Feldman was already a doctor. He violated the rules of the hospital lobby and made a mistake to save his friend's life. Now he avoids pariah, everything, and forbids touching another patient. But there is more and more freedom on Mars. There, Doc Feldman greets the colonizers, even if they are hunted by force. However, Feldman sees himself as the main character, realizing that the Martian plague could soon destroy humanity on two planets. The war began. The world is ready to destroy the colonies of Mars. Treating the plague is the price of peace, and only Feldman can find it....