“A great, wide field, silent and deserted; where is the man who could walk here without feeling that he is alone with his God?” Chapters 1–10: Marriage and […]
Russian literature
The Lady with the Dog
“If you are afraid of loneliness, don’t marry.” — Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Dog Part I: Yalta Dmitri Gurov, a married Moscow banker in his late […]
Russian literature
Anna Karenina
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” — Epigraph to Anna Karenina Part 1 The novel opens with the famous line: “All happy families are alike; […]
French literature
Thérèse Raquin
“She was born to lie, to deceive, to conceal, to play a part, to wear a mask.” Chapter 1: The Passage du Pont-Neuf The novel opens with a […]
French literature
Madame Bovary
“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the […]