“Existence is not something which lets itself be thought of from a distance: it must invade you suddenly, master you, weigh heavily on your heart like a great […]
French literature
The Fall
“May I, monsieur, offer my services without running the risk of intruding?” Chapter 1: The Confession Begins Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a former Parisian lawyer, sits in a dimly lit […]
French literature
The Stranger (L’Étranger)
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” Part One Meursault, a detached and indifferent French Algerian, receives news of his mother’s death and attends her funeral. […]
American literature
The Old Man and the Sea
“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Chapter 1 Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, has gone eighty-four days […]
American literature
For Whom the Bell Tolls
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” — John Donne (Epigraph to For Whom […]
English literature
The Magus
“I was born in 1927, the only child of middle-class parents, both English, and themselves born in the grotesquely elongated shadow, which they never rose sufficiently above history […]
English literature
Under the Net
“All is to be dared, for a person of courage has no need of any other virtue.” Chapter 1: A Disrupted Life Jake Donaghue, a struggling writer and […]