German literature

Group Portrait with Lady

“People are always saying that life isn’t a novel—but then, what is it?” Chapter 1: Introduction to the Protagonist The novel begins with an unnamed narrator researching the […]

German literature

Night in Lisbon

“There are nights when the whole world seems to be a vast, dark labyrinth, and you are lost in it.” Chapter 1: The Encounter A nameless narrator, a […]

Russian literature

Cancer Ward

“A man dies from a tumor, so how can a country survive with growths like labor camps and exiles?” Cancer Ward follows the lives of patients in a […]

French literature

The Plague

“But what does it mean, the plague? It’s life, that’s all.” Part One The novel opens in the Algerian city of Oran, described as an ordinary, commercial town […]