“A pigeon had settled on the windowsill. It was gray, with a dirty white breast, and it sat there motionless, as if it had been sitting there forever.” […]
Russian literature
The Gambler
“The chief thing is to keep playing, to keep hoping for luck.” Chapter 1 The novel opens with the introduction of Alexei Ivanovich, a young tutor working for […]
Russian literature
Notes from Underground
“I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased.” Part 1: Underground The unnamed narrator, a […]
Russian literature
The Idiot
“Beauty will save the world.” Part 1 Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man with epilepsy and childlike innocence, returns to Russia after years in a Swiss sanatorium. […]
Russian literature
Crime and Punishment
“I wanted to become a Napoleon, that is why I killed her…” Part 1 Rodion Raskolnikov, a destitute former student in St. Petersburg, plans to murder Alyona Ivanovna, […]
French literature
The Counterfeiters
“The true counterfeiters are those who pass off their own lies as truths.” Part One The novel opens with Bernard Profitendieu, a young man who discovers he is […]
American literature
Tender is the Night
“In the dead white hours of Zurich, looking out at the night where the broken moon was tossing on the wind-whipped lake…” Book One The novel opens on […]