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Mother Courage and Her Children. Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin.[1] After four theatrical productions in Switzerland and Germany from 1941 to 1952—the last three supervised and/or directed by Brecht—the play was filmed several years after Brecht's death in 1959/1960 with Brecht's widow and leading actress, Helene Weigel.[2] Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time.[3] Context[edit] Mother Courage is one of nine plays that Brecht wrote in an attempt to counter the rise of Fascism and Nazism.

Mother Courage and Her Children

In response to the invasion of Poland by the German armies of Adolf Hitler in 1939, Brecht wrote Mother Courage in what writers call a "white heat"—in a little over a month.[4] As leading Brecht scholars Ralph Manheim and John Willett wrote: Overview[edit] [edit] Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Cover of the first trade edition of Maggie Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is an 1893 novella by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900).

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

The story centers on Maggie, a young girl from the Bowery who is driven to unfortunate circumstances by poverty and solitude. The work was considered risqué by publishers because of its literary realism and strong themes. Crane – who was 22 years old at the time – financed the book's publication himself, although the original 1893 edition was printed under the pseudonym Johnston Smith. Madame Bovary. Madame Bovary (1856) is the French writer Gustave Flaubert's debut novel.

Madame Bovary

The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the precise word"). Plot synopsis[edit] Madame Bovary takes place in provincial northern France, near the town of Rouen in Normandy. One day, Charles visits a local farm to set the owner's broken leg, and meets his client's daughter, Emma Rouault. At this point, the novel begins to focus on Emma. One day, a rich and rakish landowner, Rodolphe Boulanger, brings a servant to the doctor's office to be bled. When Emma is nearly fully recovered, she and Charles attend the opera, on Charles' insistence, in nearby Rouen. Lord of the Flies. Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was Golding’s first novel.

Lord of the Flies

Although it was not a great success at the time—selling fewer than 3,000 copies in the United States during 1955 before going out of print—it soon went on to become a best-seller. It has been adapted to film twice in English, in 1963 by Peter Brook and 1990 by Harry Hook, and once in Filipino (1976). Background The book indicates that it takes place in the midst of an unspecified nuclear war. Some of the marooned characters are ordinary students, while others arrive as a musical choir under an established leader. J.B. (play) There are two versions of J.B. available: the original book, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the script which MacLeish revised substantially for Broadway, published by Samuel French Inc.

J.B. (play)

The play opens in "a corner inside an enormous circus tent". Two vendors, Mr. Zuss (evoking the chief Greek god Zeus; zuss is also German for "sweet") and Nickles (suggesting the god of money, Mammon), begin the play-within-a-play by assuming the roles of God and Satan, respectively. They overhear J.B., a wealthy New York banker, describe his prosperity as a just reward for his faithfulness to God. Scorning him, Nickles wagers Zuss that J.B. will curse God if his life is ruined. An off-Broadway production opened on March 17, 1962, at the Master Theatre, starring John Cazale. [3] The play was performed at the University of Nevada in Reno and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1963. Iliad. The Iliad (/ˈɪliəd/;[1] sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium) is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer.

Iliad

Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege; the earlier events, such as the gathering of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war, and related concerns tend to appear near the beginning. Then the epic narrative takes up events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles' looming death and the sack of Troy, prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly, so that when it reaches an end, the poem has told a more or less complete tale of the Trojan War. Synopsis[edit] A High Wind in Jamaica (novel) The Bas-Thornton children (John, Emily, Edward, Rachel, and Laura) are raised on a plantation in Jamaica at an unspecified time after the emancipation of slaves in Britain (1833).

A High Wind in Jamaica (novel)

It is a time of technological transformation, and sailing ships and steamers coexist on the high seas. Henry V (play) Title page of the first quarto (1600) Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1599.

Henry V (play)

It tells the story of King Henry V of England, focusing on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War. Henry IV, Part 2. Facsimile of the first page of The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth from the First Folio, published in 1623 The play is often seen as an extension of aspects of Henry IV, Part 1, rather than a straightforward continuation of the historical narrative, placing more emphasis on the highly popular character of Falstaff and introducing other comic figures as part of his entourage, including Ancient Pistol, Doll Tearsheet and Justice Robert Shallow.

Henry IV, Part 2

Several scenes specifically parallel episodes in Part 1. Characters[edit] Synopsis[edit] Falstaff with Doll Tearsheet in the Boar's Head tavern, illustration to Act 2, Scene 4 of the play by Eduard von Grützner The play picks up where Henry IV, Part One left off. Falstaff is still drinking and engaging in petty criminality in the London underworld. The Lord Chief Justice enters, looking for Falstaff. He has a relationship with Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute, who gets into a fight with Ancient Pistol, Falstaff's ensign. Epilogue[edit] Sources[edit] Henry IV, Part 1. Title page of the first quarto (1598) Characters[edit] Synopsis[edit] John Farmanesh-Bocca as Prince Hal in the Carmel Shakespeare Festival production of Henry IV, Part 1.

Henry IV, Part 1

Henry Bolingbroke—now King Henry IV—is having an unquiet reign. His personal disquiet at the murder of his predecessor Richard II would be solved by a crusade to the Holy Land, but broils on his borders with Scotland and Wales prevent that. The Heart of the Matter. The Heart of the Matter (1948) is a novel by English author Graham Greene. The book details a life-changing moral crisis for Henry Scobie. Greene, a British intelligence officer in Freetown, Sierra Leone, drew on his experience there.

Hard Times. Hard Times – For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times. Background[edit] Hard Times is unusual in several respects. It is by far the shortest of Dickens' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it.[1] Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations.

The Handmaid's Tale. The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. It has been adapted for the cinema, radio, opera, and stage. Plot summary[edit] The Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America. The God of Small Things. The God of Small Things (1997) is the debut novel of Indian writer Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much. " For Whom the Bell Tolls. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940.

It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. The novel is regarded as one of Hemingway's best works, along with The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and A Farewell to Arms.[1] Background[edit] Title[edit] A Farewell to Arms. Oresteia. "The Eumenides" redirects here. For mythological deities, see Erinyes. East of Eden (novel) East of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952. Doctor Zhivago (novel) Doctor Zhivago (Russian: До́ктор Жива́го, Doktor Zhivago Russian pronunciation: [ˈdoktər ʐɪˈvaɡə]) is a novel by Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957 in Italy. Crime and Punishment. Cry, the Beloved Country. Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by South African author Alan Paton.

It was first published in New York City in 1948 by Charles Scribner's Sons and in London by Jonathan Cape. Cold Mountain (novel) Cold Mountain is a 1997 historical novel by Charles Frazier which won the U.S. Ceremony (Silko novel) Ceremony is a novel by Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko, first published by Penguin in March 1977. Catch-22. The Brothers Karamazov. The Brothers Karamazov (Russian: Братья Карамазовы, Brat'ya Karamazovy, pronounced [ˈbratʲjə kərɐˈmazəvɨ]) is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880.

The author died less than four months after its publication. Aeneid. Alias Grace. All the King's Men. All the Pretty Horses (novel) The Armies of the Night.