Showing results by author "Popular Culture and Religion." in All Categories

Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon. The novel Maria Chapdelaine portrays life in rural Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century. Published first in French in 1913, it is a famous example of the genre known as "novels of the land" ("romans du terroir"). These stories sought to reinforce and preserve the cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage of French Canada — a heritage at risk because of French Canada's historical situation as a conquered enclave inside English North America. Maria is a young woman whose family works the farm they have cleared from the harsh Quebec forest — "a ...

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. The American Minister and his family have bought the English stately home Canterville Chase, complete with the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville - blood-stains, clanking chains and all. But these modern Americans will have no truck with ghostly goings-on, and set out to beat the spectre at his own game.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula as written by Bram Stoker in 1897 was not the first depiction of vampires and other such creatures, Gothic horror stories had been around since the early part of the century. The story related by Bram Stoker is told in an epistolary fashion utilising the journals and diaries of the main protagonists. The storyline is relatively simple; Dracula the longest living and most evil of vampires comes to England with a view to increasing the vampire population of the country. He is thwarted by five friends and driven back to his castle in Transylvania. It is not the...

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. H.G. Wells' classic science fiction-fantasy story, in which a scientist known only as “The Time Traveller” tells the tale of his journey to the year 802,701 A.D. and beyond, where he witnesses the end of human civilization as we know it, as well as the beginning of the end of the world. This original time-travel story has been copied many times, but never improved upon.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. In this most popular of all Oscar Wilde’s plays, two fashionable bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, discover that each has been simplifying his social obligations via the use of a convenient false persona. Their comfortable white lies suddenly lead to chaos when romance enters the picture in the form of the lovely Gwendolyn Fairfax and the innocent Cecily Cardew. Hilarity ensues as the bachelors attempt to quickly untangle the web of their deceptions in order to win the lady of their choice and withstand the scrutiny of the ...

Heidi by Johanna Spyri. Hear Heidi if you've ever longed to see the Swiss mountain slopes. This story transports the listener from the fine air and freedom of the mountaintop to the confines of Frankfurt, back to the peaks again, bounding in flowered fields with goats at your heels and sky utterly surrounding you. We meet Heidi when she is 5, led up the mountain by her aunt who has raised the orphan but must leave now for a position in Frankfurt. In a mountain cottage overlooking the valley is Heidi's grandfather, and there with him the girl's sweet, free nature expands with the vista. The...

The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man (1897) is one of the most famous science fiction novels of all time. Written by H.G. Wells (1866-1946), it tells the story of a scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility and uses it on himself. The story begins as the Invisible Man, with a bandaged face and a heavy coat and gloves, takes a train to lodge in a country inn whilst he tries to discover the antidote and make himself visible again. The book inspired several films and is notable for its vivid descriptions of the invisible man--no mean feat, given that you can't see him!

What Men Live By and Other Tales by Leo Tolstoy. Although Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a wealthy landowner, in his later life he had what was considered a “religious awakening.” This experience went on to inform his writing and his lifestyle in profound ways. His views transcended the specifics of religion, as known in his day - so much so he came to be a helpful guide both to Mohandas Gandhi and to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The four stories in this collection ask profound questions and gently supply helpful, non-dogmatic hints to their answerings: What is the most important thing to do?...

The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace. When this was written, literary traditions still decreed beauty to be the outward sign of inner saintliness, whereas evil characters tended to be “ugly as sin.” Jean Briggerland defies these expectations by being every bit as angelically beautiful as she is sociopathic. So lovely that all around her are blinded to her guilt no matter how blatant her crimes, only Jack Glover, best friend and lawyer of her most recent victim, is aware of her true nature. Can he stop her crime spree and bring her to justice before she murders her way to wealth and ...

The Book of All Power by Edgar Wallace. The Book of All Power by Edgar Wallace is set in London at the beginning, and then the action moves to Russia. The story covers the period from 1910 to 1919 during which the Russian Revolution takes place and this results in drastic changes to Russian society. This book could be described as a romantic adventure story and the main characters are a weird assortment - Malcolm Hay, a young Englishman, a beautiful Grand Duchess of the Russian Aristocracy, a Russian general, a Jewish bookbinder, and an American sharp shooter. Much happens, and the Russian ...

The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche. A work of Nietzsche's later years, The Antichrist was written after Thus Spoke Zarathustra and shortly before the mental collapse that incapacitated him for the rest of his life. The work is both an unrestrained attack on Christianity and a further exposition of Nietzsche's will-to-power philosophy so dramatically presented in Zarathustra.Christianity, says Nietzsche, represents "everything weak, low, and botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism towards all the self-preservative instincts of strong life." By contrast, Nietzsche defines good as: "...

God and the State by Mikhail Bakunin. God and the State is Mikhail Bakunin's famous, unfinished anarchist work, published posthumously in 1882, that critiques religion and government as oppressive forces that control individuals. He argues that the state uses the concept of God to justify its authority and that both must be abolished for true freedom, advocating for a society based on individual liberty, voluntary association, and mutual cooperation. The book is a foundational text in anarchist theory, arguing that "facts are before ideas" and that material conditions shape history, while ...

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells. In 1896 HG Wells produced the Island of Doctor Moreau. After a fateful shipwreck, a chance rescue, and offer of safe harbor, Edward Prendick must contend with a dark science. A man of science, Prendick must wrestle with the ethics of its passions. His inner struggle is illuminated by the island's outward horrors. Central to the themes are ethics, principles, and the extent of human compassion. This science fiction icon argues the true question of science: Could the cure be more dangerous than the disease?

The Spiritual Life by Andrew Murray. In this book, Andrew Murray explores the dynamics of the Christian life as Jesus means it to be lived. He explains how the Holy Spirit is essential to living effectively as a believer. Christians are often all too well aware of the feebleness of their life and testimony. This most encouraging book, consisting of a series of lectures given to students at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1895, shows how the working of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s life makes all the difference. It shows how God’s power is made perfect in weakness, and how ...

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The Metamorphosis is a famous novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915, about a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up to find himself inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. The story explores themes of alienation, absurdity, and the human condition as Gregor and his family struggle to cope with his new form, which makes him a burden and leads to his increasing isolation and eventual death. It is considered a landmark of modern literature, known for its surreal imagery and psychological depth.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe. Daniel Defoe’s The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner (1719) is considered by many the first English novel. Based on the real-life experiences of the castaway Alexander Selkirk, the book has had a perennial appeal among readers of all ages-–especially the young adult reading public–-who continue to find inspiration in the inventive resourcefulness of its hero, sole survivor of a shipwreck who is marooned on an uninhabited island. Especially poignant, after more than two decades of unbroken solitude, is the ...

Buddhist Writings by Various Authors. An anthology of Buddhist scriptures, appropriate as an introduction to its vast literature, or as a sampler for those who want to better understand Buddhism. The selections in this anthology are primarily from the Theravada school of Buddhism.

''Tell It All'': The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism by Fanny Stenhouse. Fanny relates the experiences of a 19th century missionary as she and her young husband proselytize throughout Europe in search of converts to the new Mormon faith. Her religious zeal is sorely tested upon receipt of news from America revealing that their religion has adopted the practice of polygamy as the means to exaltation. The couple is summoned to Utah only to find themselves firmly ensconced in Brigham Young's inner circle and called upon to practice plural marriage or risk a fall from family, friends, ...

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are in themselves exceedingly brief, less than ten pages of large type in the original. Yet they contain the essence of practical wisdom, set forth in admirable order and detail. The theme, if the present interpreter be right, is the great regeneration, the birth of the spiritual from the psychical man: the same theme which Paul so wisely and eloquently set forth in writing to his disciples in Corinth, the theme of all mystics in all lands. We think of ourselves as living a purely physical life, in these material bodies of ours. In...