Showing results by narrator "Andrea Giordani" in All Categories

Oscar Wilde's Salome was originally published in French in 1891 and translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas. This one-act play, a sinister tale of a woman scorned and her vengeance, has become a landmark of Decadent literature. The play tells the biblical story of Salome, stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils.

In George Eliot's Middlemarch, the idea of marriage and vocation are explored through a small town's community of ordinary people. One of the main characters, Dorothea Brooke, is a kind and good-hearted woman who gives to the poor and helps to rebuild cottages of poor farmers. However, she is also stubborn and very strong-willed.

Ten-year-old Gemma Merriman longs for adventure. Leaving her home in England to spend the holidays with her Canadian cousins, she hopes she'll have the best summer ever. But will she? Right from the start Gemma faces challenges she never imagined.

The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), which was first published in 1860. The book chronicles the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, who are siblings growing up at Dorlcote Mill situated at the junction of the River Floss and the River Ripple. Maggie is the main character, and the story begins when she is nine years old, 13 years into her parents' marriage. The most important threads concern her relationship with her brother and her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem and Stephen Guest.

In this classic devotional book, St. Francis de Sales shows the average believer how to become closer to God. St. Francis avoids the extremes that might lead to imbalance; his purpose is to arouse in the listener a complete love of, and trust in God. This life of devotion is open to everyone. The book is easy to understand, explaining in simple terms how to expand one’s spiritual life, with examples from scripture and from a variety of other sources. It covers topics such as creation, cleansing the soul, confession, sin, death, judgment and paradise.

St. John Chrysostom’s treatise on humility, hope, and prayer. “Nothing is more powerful than prayer when fervent and genuine,” claims Chrysostom, asserting that it both disperses present dangers and rescues from penalties.

Roman historian Suetonius first introduces Claudius in his biography of Augustus, describing the boy as having various issues with his mental and physical health. Though he grew healthier after becoming emperor, "Life of Claudius" portrays him in a mixed light. While Suetonius tells of how Claudius was the first to invade Britain in a 100 years, he also paints the man as a fool who was easily swayed by others. Though historians today perceive Claudius as a more competent ruler, this dramatic biography held primary sway over public opinion for centuries.

The Romans hated Pompey’s greedy father, Strabo, with a vengeance. Yet when Pompey rose in prominence, Plutarch notes that he developed the opposite character, and the Romans loved him for it. Pompey had many great accomplishments in his military and political life, but his legacy lies in forming the First Triumvirate with Crassus and Caesar. When the alliance eventually dissolved, and Pompey fled from Caesar to his death, the Roman world would never be the same.

True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is one of the greatest and most celebrated books ever written about Our Lady. Unpublished during the saint's lifetime, it was discovered in 1842. The author views Mary as the essential key to the heart of Jesus and "consecration to Jesus in Mary" as a special path to being united with and consecrated to Christ.

An Enemy of the People is an 1882 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, who wrote it in response to the public outcry against his previous play, Ghosts, which challenged the hypocrisy of 19th-century morality. An Enemy of the People tells the story of a man who dares to speak an unpalatable truth and is punished for it. Ibsen uses the language of comic exaggeration through the mouth of his spokesman, the idealist Doctor Thomas Stockmann, who rejects all absolute principles of either wisdom or morality.

The Greek poet, Hesiod, stands out as the first personality in European literature. The Theogony contains a genealogy of the gods from the beginning of time and an account of their violent struggles before the present order was established. The Works and Days, a compendium of advice for a life of honest husbandry, shines a unique and fascinating light on archaic Greek society, ethics, and superstition. Hesiod's poetry is the oldest source of the myths of Prometheus, Pandora, and the Golden Age.

Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1873-1936) was a Scottish writer. Teutonic Myth and Legend (1912) is his retelling of the legends and myths of the Goths, Norsemen, Vandals, Burgundians, Franks, Angles, Saxons, and other Germanic tribes. Poems and prose passages from classic literature that are related to these myths are included.

Before his assassination, Julius Caesar named his great nephew Gaius Octavius as his successor. In this excerpt from The Twelve Caesars, Roman biographer Suetonius tells the life story of Octavius, who took the name Augustus when he became emperor. While Augustus did have a military career, Suetonius focuses on the dramatic details of Augustus’ personal life, making this biography more gossip-filled than its contemporaries.

Cato the Younger was one of the many biographies documented by Plutarch in his series called Parallel Lives. Related to Cato the Elder, Cato the Younger was also a student of philosophy as well as a Roman Statesman. After his father died and he gained his inheritance, Cato the Younger began his life as philosopher, warrior, and political leader. His life ended, as so many Roman lives did back then, in tragedy.

The life of Timoleon, as told by Plutarch in Parallel Lives, is a twisted and intriguing one. Deemed fiercely patriotic for helping plan the assassination of his tyrannical brother, Timoleon was multifaceted. He was integral in helping the citizens of Sicily, as well as his own citizens. But for the many things that he did, Timoleon suffered a lonely end - only to be celebrated further after his death.

Though Sparta and Greece were once bitter rivals, this did not stop Plutarch from writing about Spartan figureheads in his book, Parallel Lives. Cleomenes was one of these Spartan figureheads - and was the King of Sparta for many years. From involvement in many wars to his effort to maintain the Spartan state, Cleomenes was still not free from drama. His life ended tragically at his own hands after one final Spartan defeat, but his legacy lived on through the works of Plutarch and others.

Julius Caesar peaked as one of the most powerful generals in Roman history. In “The Life of Caesar", Plutarch attempts to capture the greatness of this man on paper. With stirring prose, he documents Caesar’s military might and rousing spirit. The biography ends with the details of Caesar’s assassination, but Plutarch assures us that the murderers eventually paid for the deed.

As the third book in the series, Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery continues to follow the adventures of Anne Shirley. After leaving her teaching career behind in Green Gables, Anne attends Redmond College in Nova Scotia with some of her friends. Anne and her friends spend the first year of school at a boarding house, but they then decide to live together in a quaint little cottage known as Patty's Place. Here Anne pursues her dream of higher education but is interrupted by Gilbert Blythe and his attempts at seeking her hand in marriage.

A young orphan seeks vengeance against the Yakuza man who killed her parents…. A jaded Ronin seeks out an old colleague before enacting a last ritual…. And an ancient demon taunts a former Knight of a holy order from the blade of her ancient samurai sword.

Taking place in ancient South America, The Kurupi's Curse tells the story of a Princess that was cursed by a mythical deity called a Kurupi and cast into a time portal until someone worthy comes along to break the curse.