Isabel de Galceran

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Cover picture(first published 1875)

Narcís Oller (1846 – 1930)
Language: Catalan

This is a realist novellette featuring how Isabel, wife of Don Pau Armengol, falls victim to a slander promoted by political interests in a small Catalan town as seen from the perspective of a young lawyer from Barcelona.

Isabel és la muller de Don Pau Armengol, hereu d’una vella família del poble que en versions posteriors l’autor anomenarà Vilaniu (pseudònim de Reus). Isabel esdevé víctima d’una calúmnia promoguda per interessos polítics. Aquesta novel·leta presenta el contrast entre el fosc immobilisme i la mesquinesa de la societat de la vila en contrast amb l’empenta política i científica de la ciutat de Barcelona, lluminosa i avançada.

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The Autobiography of Lord Alfred Douglas

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Cover picture(first published 1929)

Lord Alfred Douglas (1870 – 1945)
Language: English

Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas wrote his autobiography in his late fifties, some 29 years after the death of Oscar Wilde. Since the publication of his first memoir, “Oscar Wilde and Myself” (1914), Douglas’s anger at his former lover had cooled somewhat, but he still took the opportunity to strike back at his many perceived enemies. (summary by Rob Marland)

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Pilar Prim

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Cover picture(first published 1906)

Narcís Oller (1846 – 1930)
Language: Catalan

Pilar Prim is a young widow forced by the will of her dead husband to remain in this state if she does not want to lose the usufruct of the factory that her husband owned. On a trip to Puigcerdà, where Pilar Prim spends the summer with her daughter and son, she meets a very gallant man named Deberga, with whom she immediately develops a mutual affection. Pilar Prim’s brother-in-law, Robert Ortal, pressures the woman not to marry mister Deberga and therefore not to lose the usufruct from which he also benefits. Then, the action of the story moves to Barcelona, where the widow will fight against the social conventions of the bourgeoisie and the upper class. The widow is challenged to choose between love or the respect of her acquaintance. (summary by Wikipedia)

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Oscar Wilde Discovers America [1882]

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Cover picture(first published 1936)

Lloyd Lewis (1891 – 1949) and Henry Justin Smith (1875 – 1936)
Language: English

In 1882, Oscar Wilde toured North America from New York to San Francisco and Montreal to New Orleans, lecturing on art and home decoration. The American public was familiar with Wilde thanks to the newspaper cartoons that mocked him and his fellow aesthetes for their peculiar dress and ideas. They were more eager to see his long hair and knee breeches than hear him talk. Oscar Wilde Discovers America [1882] is the first full account of Wilde’s tour. Lewis and Smith create a picture of Wilde at the very beginning of his career, and vividly conjure the cultural milieu of America at the end of the 19th century. (summary by Rob Marland)

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Novelle per un Anno, vol. 16: Appendice

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(prima pubblicazione nella forma attuale nel 1938)
(first published in their present form in 1938)

Luigi Pirandello (1867 – 1936)
Language: Italiano

This book contains 27 novels from the Appendix of “Novelle per un anno”, a collection of novels written by Luigi Pirandello over the years.

Novelle per un anno è una raccolta di 241 novelle scritte da Luigi Pirandello. Originariamente sono state pubblicate sul Corriere della Sera, successivamente ripubblicate in 15 raccolte. Inizialmente erano previste 24 raccolte contenenti 365 novelle, tuttavia la prematura morte dell’autore ha impedito il raggiungimento del traguardo. Postume sono state pubblicate altre novelle scritte dall’autore. Le raccolte sono state pubblicate tra il 1922 e il 1937. L’appendice, edito nel 1938, contiene novelle pubblicate tra il 1884 ed il 1933. (Riassunto di Filippo Gioachin)

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Oscar Wilde Twice Defended

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Cover picture(first published 1934)

Robert Sherard (1861 – 1943)
Language: English

Robert Sherard was Oscar Wilde’s friend of 20 years and first biographer. The Life of Oscar Wilde was the last of the four books he wrote about the Irish playwright and wit. Oscar Wilde Twice Defended is a shorter work than his full length biographies (The Life of Oscar Wilde, and The Real Oscar Wilde), in which Sherard responds to other Wildean biographers, including André Gide and Frank Harris. (summary by Rob Marland)

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Green Grey Homestead

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(first published 1934)

Steele Rudd (1868-1935)
Language: English

This book describes the experiences of Dick Gall, a young Australian countryman, from the time of his first application for ‘a homestead selection’ to that of the birth of his ‘son an’ heir’ on the green-grey homestead. It also includes memories of his younger years, when he chased scrub cattle, hunted wild pigs on wild horses and played on the polo field. Steele Rudd knew what he was writing about, having grown up on a homestead selection at Emu Creek himself, and worked as a stockrider (or cowboy) as a teenager.
The book is written in a very lively style, and remarkably, in the second person singular – “you” will literally be Dick Gall himself. The opening sentence: “You’ll be single when the idea of taking up a homestead first gets you.” Or later: “You’ll be three years on the little grey homestead, working hard and becoming well-known and respected; you’ll receive kindly handturns from one and another, and be known to them all as Dick Gall.” (Summary by Anna Simon)

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