Isabel F. Hapgood

Leo Tolstoy

Not long ago, their reigned in the learned, cultivated world, a moral philosophy, according to which it appeared that everything which exists is reasonable; that there is no such thing as evil or good; and that it is unnecessary for man to war against evil, but that it is only necessary for him to display intelligence, -- one man in the military service, another in the judicial, another on the violin. There have been many and varied expressions of human wisdom, and these phenomena were known to the men of the nineteenth century. The wisdom of Rousseau and of Lessing, and Spinoza and Bruno, and all the wisdom of antiquity; but no one man's wisdom overrode the crowd. It was impossible to say even this, -- that Hegel's success was the result of the symmetry of this theory. There were other equally symmetrical theories, -- those of Descartes, Leibnitz, Fichte, Schopenhauer. . . .

On the Significance of Science and Art

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title. However, several alternatives have been used, including The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed. Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. Les Miserables examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical. The appearance of the Miserables was highly anticipated and advertised. Critical reactions were diverse, but most of them were negative. Commercially, the work was a great success globally. A monumental classic and one of the most widely read novels in history, Les Miserables portrays the epic struggle between good and evil in the soul of one man: Jean Valjean. In a world brutalized by poverty and ignorance, the ex-convict struggles to renew his life and reaffirm his humanity. But he is haunted, both by his seemingly inescapable past and the malignant shadow of the infamous police detective Javert. Rich in detail, packed with adventure, and filled with the sweep of human passions, Les Misérables is more than a literary masterpiece—it remains a powerful social document. Dedicated to the poor, the oppressed, and the misunderstood, this captivating novel captures the impossible societal layers—and the essence of life—as it truly existed in nineteenth-century France.

Les Misérables

Constance Garnett

Ivan Sergejevič Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. Turgenev was one of the master of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction. During the period of 1853-62 Turgenev wrote some of his finest stories as well as the first four of his novels: Rudin (1856), A Nest of the Gentry (1859), and Fathers and Sons (1862). In this book: Fathers and Children Translated by Constance Garnett A Nobleman's Nest Translator: Isabel F. Hapgood Smoke Translator: Constance Black Garnett Rudin Translator: Constance Garnett The Torrents of Spring Translator: Constance Garnett The Jew And Other Stories Translator: Constance Garnett The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories Translator: Constance Garnett

Ivan Turgenev, Novels and Short Stories

The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories

The Hunchback of Notre Dame uses the history of the Middle Ages and the structure of the Notre Dame cathedral to express its major themes. Notre Dame is the geographical and moral center of Hugo's fictional Paris. The cathedral inspired Hugo to write the novel and encouraged his life long passion for Gothic art and architecture. Hugo was also a scholar of medieval Christianity and used the history of its churches, martyrs, and saints as a backdrop for the novel's action. The French title of the novel is Notre Dame de Paris, emphasizing Notre Dame's role as a symbol of the city. Not only does most of the novel's action unfold inside or around the cathedral, but from the top of its towers, Claude Frollo and Quasimodo can spy on virtually anyone in the entire city. Architecturally, it is an "amalgamation" that mirrors Quasimodo's own deformities.

Isabel F. Hapgood

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