"The Lady with the Toy Dog," "Goussiev" and other famous tales by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). -- Time's revenges or the irony of satisfied desires are treated in "The Lady with the Toy Dog." Yet one cannot say that Chekhov himself is "disillusioned." His sense of spiritual beauty is too strong; and his depth of acceptation of life's pattern forms an aura enveloping his subject. This spiritual aura hovers about it and enwraps the gloomiest, greyest, most sardonic facts of life; death itself cannot diminish it. Examine "Goussiev," a sketch of the death of two worn-out soldiers on board a steamer, when returning from the East, a sketch that is so "modern" in its all-embracing outlook and bold acceptations as to shame nearly all our writers of today. It is so humanly broad, so tender, so infallibly true in its spiritual lightings, and it conveys the mystery of nature and all its transitory processes with sharp precision.

The Trail of the Hawk, by Sinclair Lewis, is the chronicle of an inveterate Rolling Stone… Carl Ericson, a born rebel against conventions, finds himself from boyhood up at war with the combined forces of family, school and society, all three of which unite in trying to mould him into the average colourless human being. Consequently throughout his earlier years he is in perpetual disgrace, at home, at school and at college… Thus it happens that we find Carl in early adolescence a friendless and penniless wanderer, undaunted and thrilling with a sense of freedom and the boundless opportunity of satisfying his unquenchable curiosity about life. … The first of the three parts into which this chronicle is divided, "The Adventure of Youth," … covers the formative years and helps to explain why Carl is what he is, and not otherwise. … Part II, "The Adventure of Adventuring," … is an undiluted joy. It is improbable, to be sure, almost burlesque, yet so joyous, so spontaneous, so kaleidoscopic in its varied scene and shifting action, that one must accept it with indulgent credulity. … Packer in a department store, waiter in a third-class restaurant, mechanic in an automobile factory, chauffeur, professional tramp and candidate for the bread line, porter in a Bowery saloon, facing the problem of saving four dollars out of a weekly salary of eight, in order to gratify a new ambition, namely to see the Panama Canal, — such is a brief epitome of one phase of our Rolling Stone's career, a phase that all unconsciously is shaping him for bigger things. … and the following year finds him in California, a partner in a profitable automobile repair shop. Then the big news reaches him of the first successful flights of Curtis and the Wright Brothers, and Carl recognises by instinct that here is the outlet for his pent-up energies, the one career for which his whole undisciplined nature has been crying out. Much has been written about aviation, both from the technical and the popular standpoint ; but it would be hard to find anywhere else in fiction any description that would give to the inexperienced a kindred thrill of breathless flight, of danger that is a fearful joy, and of confident omnipotence that is superhuman. And then, when this unrivalled "Hawk of the Air-men" is at the zenith of his powers, comes his third adventure, "The Adventure of Love." … Of course, the inevitable happens: the Hawk has his wings clipped, flights are a thing of the past, a onfining, although lucrative office position and a conventional apartment on the Upper West Side begin to prey upon his nerves; and soon the happy couple are quarrelling acrimoniously and often. But … you cannot cage a hawk for long … (Frederic Taber Cooper) --- “The Trail of the Hawk” is a truly lifelike chronicle of the fortunes of 'Widow Ericson's boy Carl,' of Joralemon, Minn., who becomes 'Hawk' Ericson, the daring aviator, and marries a very nice girl indeed. They had promised to find new horizons for each other, and when the resources of a New York flat in the way of horizons are exhausted, they sail for South America… (Atlantic Monthly)

Gottfried Keller (1819-1890), one of the greatest German authors in Switzerland, was a confirmed bachelor, not by choice but by necessity. He had been in love several times, but all he received in return was friendship and respect. --- In 'The Governor of Greifensee', one of Keller's Zurich Novellas, the hero, Salomon Landolt, the noble and impartial judge and governor, hits upon the grotesque plan of inviting all his former sweethearts to a festival at his castle. The five ladies accept the invitation not knowing that the others would be there. They are sincerely glad to see their old friend again; for it was not he who had deserted or injured any of them, they all for one reason or another had rejected the hand of the worthy suitor. --- It was Keller's own experience. The novel is a fine example of Keller's humor and art of story-telling. The five love affairs of the governor are told with exquisite grace and subtle characterization.

Love is necessarily an important element in all imaginative literature, but with Gottfried Keller it does not overshadow all other aspects of life. Great passion we do not find in his works. In "A Village Romeo and Juliet", it is not ill-consuming love that makes the two young people seek death, but the bitter realization of life's law, as they understood it, which made it impossible for them ever to be united. The story is a fine illustration of what a great artist may make out of his raw material. Keller had read in a newspaper a report of the suicide of two young people, the sort of tragedy that we may read almost daily in newspapers; he seized upon the possibilities of the situation and the result was this story, perhaps the best he ever wrote. --- Gottfried Keller (1819-1890) was one of the foremost Swiss novelists and one of the most original figures of German literature since Goethe, a master of style worthy to be classed with the great names of all ages. (John Albrecht Walz)

In "The Downfall" Zola tells the story of a terrific land-slide which overwhelmed the French Second Empire: It is a story of war, grim and terrible; of a struggle to the death between two great nations. In it the author has put much of his finest work, and the result is one of the masterpieces of literature. The hero is Jean Macquart, son of Antoine Macquart and brother of Gervaise. After the terrible death of his wife, as told in "La Terre" ("The Soil"), Jean enlisted for the second time in the army, and went through the campaign up to the battle of Sedan. After the capitulation he was made prisoner, and in escaping was wounded. When he returned to active service he took part in crushing the excesses of the Commune in Paris... The Downfall has been described as "a prose epic of modern war," and vast though the subject be, it is treated in a manner that is powerful, painful, and pathetic.

From the cycle "Zurich Novellas" by Gottfried Keller: In 1877 Gottfried Keller published his "Zurich Novellas" (Züricher Novellen), a series of short novels dealing with the history of Zurich and Switzerland. "Ursula" is a love story between a Swiss soldier and the daughter of a farmer during the time of the Swiss Reformation lead by Ulrich Zwingli and at the beginning of the Anabaptist movement in Europe in the 16th century. --- "Gottfried Keller was one of the foremost Swiss novelists and one of the most original figures of German literature since Goethe, a master of style worthy to be classed with the great names of all ages." (John Albrecht Walz)

In his will, Edmond de Goncourt (1822-1896) left a bequest in honor of his brother Jules de Goncourt (1830-1870) to establish and support a French literary salon, the Academie Goncourt, and later the famous Prix Goncourt, an award that to this day remains France's most significant literary prize. --- The Goncourt brothers, who co-authored a series of novels on social themes, were among the founders of literary "Naturalism" in France. Emile Zola would emerge as this movement's most important representative in his cycle of novels "Les Rougon- Macquart". --- Among the novels co-written by the Goncourt brothers, "Germinie Lacerteux" (1865) is especially noteworthy. The double-live of the novel's Parisian domestic servant, who is ground down and destroyed by the conditions she lives in, but who for decades keeps these conditions hidden from her employer, continues to captivate book-lovers in France and the rest of the world to this day.

Wilhelm Raabe's novel entitled Der Hungerpastor (1864) is a classic example of the so-called "poetic realism" to which many - primarily bourgeois - German writers were devoted between 1850 and 1890. --- Wilhelm Raabe (1831 - 1910) became famous following the publication of his first novel, Die Chronik der Sperlingsgasse (The Sparrow Lane Chronicle), in 1856. His late works are known for their social criticism, while earlier novels, such as The Hunger Pastor, were intended to be primarily educational. --- With the figure of Hans Unwirrsch in The Hunger Pastor, Raabe completely lives up to his motto - "Look up to the stars. Pay attention to the streets." The budding pastor, who was born into poverty, "hungers" for knowledge and a respected place in society, but he constantly stumbles over obstacles that his own life, as well as the lives of his family and friends, place before him. --- Raabe's rambling style makes his works difficult reading for many contemporary readers. In this version of The Hunger Pastor, several chapters have therefore been summarized by the translator, while the most important ones are published in their original length. --- Despite some anti-Semitic elements, which were commonly found in the works of some 19th century bourgeois writers in Germany, The Hunger Pastor is and remains a German literature classic.

The Reunion of the Musketeers: In this sequel to "The Three Musketeers," d'Artagnan has completely lost touch with his friends. The group has been broken up. The two noblemen, Arthos and Porthos, have left the service and are living on their estates, Aramis has gone into the Church, and d'Artagnan alone is still in the King's guard. When Queen Anne needs again the group's service, Cardinal Mazarin commissions d'Artagnan to go in search of his friends. "Twenty Years After" follows events in France during a civil war (the "Fronde," 1648-1653), and in England at the time of Oliver Cromwell until the execution of King Charles I.

The first part of the fourth Sherlock Holmes novel, "The Valley of Fear" (1914-15), takes place in the English county of Sussex in 1888. Following the murder of Mr. Douglas from Birlstone Manor House, the logical detective skills of Sherlock Holmes and the support of his assistant, Dr. Watson, are needed to determine the identity of the murderer and to capture him. The true and complex background of the crime is revealed, however, only after a flashback, which, in the second part of the novel, leads the reader to a coal-mining area in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in 1875...