"First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is one of the foremost works of English literature. A mix of adventure fiction, travelogue and autobiography, the novel was a huge success following its publication, running into several prints within Defoe's lifetime. Although the novel is believed to have been based on the story of the Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, Defoe masterfully crafts the main story into a fascinating tale of ambition, adventure, spiritualism and bravery. The protagonist and narrator, Robinson Crusoe, writes about his voyages at sea and his mercantile drive which take him far from his native England. In the course of his journey, he is enslaved, shipwrecked on an island in the midst of cannibals, travels to Brazil and secures a plantation, besides much else. This wonderful tale gave rise to a literary genre, the Robinsonade. Robinson Crusoe remains an evergreen classic and has been adapted to film, television, comics and video games."


Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), an English political pamphleteer, journalist and novelist was best known for his groundbreaking novels Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722). Before becoming a writer, Defoe faced several hardships as a failing businessman who was constantly in debt. Moreover, his political pamphlets repeatedly led to his imprisonment.
It was only around the age of 59 that Defoe set off completely on a literary course and published his magnum opus Robinson Crusoe. This novel sealed his reputation as a writer. Thereafter followed other renowned works of fiction such as Moll Flanders (1722), Colonel Jack (1722) and The Fortunate Mistress: or, A History of the Life (1724).

"One of the founders of innovative science fiction novels, H.G. Wells was as taken up with the real world as his imaginary realm. Dissatisfied with the quality of history books at the end of World War I, the writer began penning his own history of the world. First published in 1922, A Short History of the World presents a groundbreaking study of the civilisation from the origins of the Earth,spanning the Neolithic Era, the rise of Judaism, the Golden Age of Athens, Christ's life, the great discovery of America to the consequences of World War I. Inspired by Wells's The Outline of History (1919) a work in three volumes, beginning with Prehistory and following the world's significant events through World War I this condensed work chronicles the physical, intellectual and spiritual evolution of the human race. Wells adopts a Darwinian approach and avoids presenting history within a politicised framework. Passionately told, A Short History of the World remains an evergreen classic."


HERBERT GEORGE WELLS was born on 21 September 1866, in Bromley, England. In 1874, Wells, the son of domestic helpers-turned-shopkeepers, had an accident that left him bedridden for months. It was during this time that an avid reader was born. His father would bring him books from the local library and Wells would spend hours devouring the written word. Later, when his mother returned to working as a maidservant in a country house in Sussex, Wells found himself in the owner's magnificent library, immersed in the works of stalwarts like Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Sir Thomas More, Plato, Daniel Defoe and others. As a teenager, Wells worked as a draper's assistant but eventually quit. Later, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science (later, the Royal College) where he learned about astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics, among other subjects. All through, Wells nursed the secret desire to become a writer someday. In 1895, following the publication of The Time Machine, Wells became an overnight sensation. The story of an English scientist developing a time travel machine earned him the title of Father of Futurism. Wells' successive books, often termed as 'scientific romances' included The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898) Wells' works reflected the need for a society that flourished on the ideas and principles of global socialism. Published in 1920, The Outline of History is regarded as Wells' best-selling work. A champion of social and political ideas, he also ran for Parliament as a Labour Party candidate between 1922 and 192 The visionary author, sociologist, journalist, and historian breathed his last on 13 August 1946, aged 79.

It sounds plausible enough tonight, but wait until tomorrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning. Born out of H.G. Wells’ literary vision of the future, The Time Machine (1895) is an extraordinary work of early science fiction. A Victorian scientist builds a time machine and lands in the year 802,701 AD. Initially, he is transported to the pastoral idyll of an unknown land which is delightfully peaceful. Soon, however, the paradisiacal façade shatters and he discovers the reality of two distinct species: Eloi are useless, childlike adults surviving on a fruit based diet, and Morlocks who are barbarians thriving underground. The Time Traveller saves one of the Eloi from drowning, and navigates through tunnels to retrieve his time machine that has gone missing. Before returning to his era, The Time Traveller also visits a land where a bloated red sun stares motionless in the sky and the only sign of life is a black blob with tentacles. Once again, the scientist prepares to leave on another time travel, but this time will he return?

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS was born on 21 September 1866, in Bromley, England. In 1874, Wells, the son of domestic helpers-turned-shopkeepers, had an accident that left him bedridden for months. It was during this time that an avid reader was born. His father would bring him books from the local library and Wells would spend hours devouring the written word. Later, when his mother returned to working as a maidservant in a country house in Sussex, Wells found himself in the owner's magnificent library, immersed in the works of stalwarts like Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Sir Thomas More, Plato, Daniel Defoe and others. As a teenager, Wells worked as a draper's assistant but eventually quit. Later, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science (later, the Royal College) where he learned about astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics, among other subjects. All through, Wells nursed the secret desire to become a writer someday. In 1895, following the publication of The Time Machine, Wells became an overnight sensation. The story of an English scientist developing a time travel machine earned him the title of Father of Futurism. Wells' successive books, often termed as 'scientific romances' included The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898) Wells' works reflected the need for a society that flourished on the ideas and principles of global socialism. Published in 1920, The Outline of History is regarded as Wells' best-selling work. A champion of social and political ideas, he also ran for Parliament as a Labour Party candidate between 1922 and 192 The visionary author, sociologist, journalist, and historian breathed his last on 13 August 1946, aged 79.

"I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself. Originally published in German as Die Verwandlung (1915), The Metamorphosis is one of the Austrian writer Franz Kafka's finest stories. A masterpiece of absurdist Kafkaesque fiction, the novella traces the life of a salesman, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day to find himself transformed into a hideous insect. With its myriad psychological, sociological, feminist and artistic interpretations, this novella remains a favourite amongst literary critics. Subsequent writers of absurdist fiction were deeply inspired by The Metamorphosis, that has been adapted into film, television and theatre since it was first published."


Franz Kafka (1883-1924), a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist, was one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. His novels The Judgement (1913) and The Trial (1925), cemented his reputation as a writer. Kafka had a concise style of writing and the themes of despair and alienation were recurrent in his works. He was also a writer of fine short stories that were existentialist in tone.
Although he received little literary attention while he was alive, Kafka became an important figure of German literature when his close friend and literary executor, Max Brod, refused to destroy his novels, diaries and letters upon his death, as was instructed by Kafka. The term Kafkaesque derives from Kafka's name and denotes the nightmarish, absurd and oppressive situations that the protagonists often face in his works.
Kafka died of tuberculosis, aged 40.

Tom Sawyer, a mischievous young boy, lives in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri with his Aunt Polly and half-brother Sid. Together with his friend Huckleberry Finn, the son of a drunk, ruthless father, he accidentally witnesses a murder. What unfolds in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is a series of exhilarating events: both friends identify Injun Joe, the real murderer, in court; testify to the innocence of the person wrongly accused and find buried treasure in a haunted house. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Huck escapes from the clutches of his father and encounters Jim, a runaway slave. They embark on an exciting journey along the Mississippi River, meeting different people and participating in their unusual lives. With time, Huck finds himself in a moral dilemma over societal values and his own friendship with Jim. With The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain presents a sharp social commentary on 19th-century American life through scathing satire, folksy humour, colloquial speech and coarse language.


Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was America’s most famous literary icon. Born on 30 November 1835, in the town of Florida, Missouri, he was the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal, a developing port city on the banks of the Mississippi.
At the age of nine, Twain witnessed the murder of a cattle rancher and when he turned 10, he saw a slave being struck by a piece of iron by a white overseer. Violence was commonplace and such incidents shaped the writer in him.
Twain became the chronicler of hypocrisies and vanities through the colloquial, raw, and vivid voice of the common folk. Satire and irreverence were the weapons that he used to deflate the arrogance of the pretentious. In 1865, one of his remarkable short stories about life in a mining camp, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,’ was published in newspapers and magazines, earning him national acclaim. A few years later, in 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and became a bestseller.
This one-of a kind travel book was born out of his five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) are among Twain’s seminal works. In 1935, Ernest Hemingway remarked, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910.

"Tom Sawyer, a mischievous young boy, lives in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri with his Aunt Polly and half-brother Sid. Together with his friend Huckleberry Finn, the son of a drunk, ruthless father, he accidentally witnesses a murder. What unfolds in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is a series of exhilarating events: both friends identify Injun Joe, the real murderer, in court; testify to the innocence of the person wrongly accused and find buried treasure in a haunted house. After autobiographical works like The Innocents Abroad (1869), and Roughing It (1872), this book was Mark Twain’s debut novel that reflected the author’s own experiences of youth and adulthood. He even chose to name his protagonist after a fireman whom he had met in San Francisco in 1863. Twain presents a sharp social commentary on 19th-century American life through Tom’s tale of childhood resentment against societal hypocrisies."



Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was America’s most famous literary icon. Born on 30 November 1835, in the town of Florida, Missouri, he was the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal, a developing port city on the banks of the Mississippi.
At the age of nine, Twain witnessed the murder of a cattle rancher and when he turned 10, he saw a slave being struck by a piece of iron by a white overseer. Violence was commonplace and such incidents shaped the writer in him.
Twain became the chronicler of hypocrisies and vanities through the colloquial, raw, and vivid voice of the common folk. Satire and irreverence were the weapons that he used to deflate the arrogance of the pretentious. In 1865, one of his remarkable short stories about life in a mining camp, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,’ was published in newspapers and magazines, earning him national acclaim. A few years later, in 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and became a bestseller.
This one-of a kind travel book was born out of his five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) are among Twain’s seminal works. In 1935, Ernest Hemingway remarked, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck escapes from the clutches of his abusive drunk father ‘Pap’, and the ‘sivilizing’ guardian Widow Douglas. After faking his own death in pursuit of freedom, during one of his travels, Huck, encounters Jim, a runaway slave. Together, they embark on an exciting journey along the Mississippi River, meeting different people and participating in their unusual lives. With time, Huck finds himself in a moral dilemma over societal values and his own friendship with Jim. First published in 1884, the book was an indictment of racism, class prejudices and identity conflicts. Regarded as one of the Great American Novels, this timeless classic by Mark Twain is also among the first in American literature to be written in regional English, relying on scathing satire, folksy humour, colloquial speech and coarse language.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was America’s most famous literary icon. Born on 30 November 1835, in the town of Florida, Missouri, he was the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal, a developing port city on the banks of the Mississippi.
At the age of nine, Twain witnessed the murder of a cattle rancher and when he turned 10, he saw a slave being struck by a piece of iron by a white overseer. Violence was commonplace and such incidents shaped the writer in him.
Twain became the chronicler of hypocrisies and vanities through the colloquial, raw, and vivid voice of the common folk. Satire and irreverence were the weapons that he used to deflate the arrogance of the pretentious. In 1865, one of his remarkable short stories about life in a mining camp, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,’ was published in newspapers and magazines, earning him national acclaim. A few years later, in 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and became a bestseller.
This one-of a kind travel book was born out of his five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) are among Twain’s seminal works. In 1935, Ernest Hemingway remarked, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910.

"Published on 16 October 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was originally titled Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. The novel earned its author the distinction of being ‘the first historian of the private consciousness’. Jane Eyre, an orphan, living with her cruel aunt is punished for bullying her cousin and imprisoned in a ‘red room’.This is the same room where Jane’s uncle had died. Locked in, a young Jane is haunted by her uncle’s screams. Memories of an oppressive upbringing follow her like a shadow even at Lowood Charity School where she finds herself at the mercy of an abusive headmaster. As a governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane falls in love with her mysterious Byronic employer, Edward Rochester. Soon, she discovers a bitter truth about him and his ‘mad’ wife Bertha Mason. After a series of crests and troughs when Jane is ready to embark on yet another unpredictable journey, she is compelled to return to the man she had once abandoned."


Born on 21 April 1816 in Thornton,Yorkshire, England, Charlotte Brontë was the third of six children of Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell.
In April 1821, Charlotte’s mother died of cancer a few months after the family moved to Haworth.Thereafter, her mother’s sister came to live with the family.After her elder sisters Elizabeth and Maria fell critically ill at school, her father withdrew Charlotte and her younger sister Emily.The rigours of life at boarding school, unsanitary conditions, outbreaks of ‘low fever,’ or typhus, withdrawal of many students formed the base of Lowood School in Jane Eyre.
In 1833, Charlotte penned her novella, The Green Dwarf, under the name of Wellesley.
The Professor, Charlotte’s first manuscript, did not immediately find a publisher, although Smith, Elder & Co. of Cornhill expressed their desire to acquire her longer-form works and narratives. In her response, she completed her second manuscript in August 1847. Six weeks later, Jane Eyre was published under the pen name, Currer Bell. The Professor was published posthumously in 1857.
Charlotte Brontë explored themes of sexual politics, betrayal, romance, revenge, loss, and betrayal.

"Published in 1847, Emily Brontë’s only novel Wuthering Heights is an evergreen classic. A passionate tale of love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, the novel challenged Victorian ideals of morality, class, religion and gender inequality. Heathcliff, an orphan, brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, represents the quintessential Byronic hero—brooding and enigmatic, whose social status is foregrounded by his lack of a first name. Spurned by Catherine and humiliated by her brother, Hindley, Heathcliff leaves the Heights, only to return later as a revenge-seeking, wealthy and polished man. Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, an antithesis to Heathcliff. What follows is a series of disastrous events in which the characters are consumed by their tragic fate. Evocative and gothic, the novel was initially termed ‘abhorrent’ and later appreciated for its originality and poetic grandeur."


Born on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Emily Jane Brontë was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë, and the fifth of six children. Emily Brontë was considered an enigmatic literary figure and remains a difficult subject for biographers till date. Her only nove —Wuthering Heights—was published under the pseudonym ‘Ellis Bell’. In April 1821, Emily’s mother died of cancer a few months after the family moved to Haworth. Thereafter, her mother’s sister came to live with the family. At the tender age of six, Emily joined the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge along with her sisters Charlotte, Elizabeth and Maria. Unfortunately, their father had to withdraw both Charlotte and Emily after elder sisters Elizabeth and Maria became critically ill at school and eventually died of tuberculosis in 1825. First published in London in 1847, Wuthering Heights appeared as part of a three-volume collection including younger sister Anne Brontë’s debut novel Agnes Grey (under the pseudonym ‘Acton Bell’). Critics and reviewers were perplexed at the structure of Wuthering Heights; some even described it as a work of fiction that could have been written only by a man. Emily’s real name was printed on the title page much later—posthumously, in 1850 for a commercial edition. Soon after the release of the novel, Emily’s health—she had been battling tuberculosis— deteriorated. On 19 December 1848, Emily Brontë died in Haworth, Yorkshire, England.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Two women fall in love with men of the same name. This mythical suitor is called ‘Ernest’, a name that has been adopted by both Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff to win the hearts of their beloveds, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, respectively. As pandemonium breaks out at Jack’s country home on the same weekend, and while the identity of ‘Ernest’ is still uncertain, only an insignificant handbag and an old nursemaid can save the day! A farce where characters take on fictitious roles, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a delightful carnival of lovers in conflict, warped identities, clandestine arrangements, witticism and incisive, artful conversations. The eccentricity and effervescence in Wilde’s plot and characters are enjoyed by readers and viewers even today. Ever since it was first performed in London’s St. James’ Theatre on 14 February 1895, this brilliant tour de force has inspired many other adaptations. The Importance of Being Earnest remains an evergreen classic!"


Born on 16 October 1854, Oscar Wilde was a famous Irish poet and playwright. Part of a family of intellectuals, he was educated at the most prestigious colleges in Great Britain Trinity College, University of Dublin and Magdalen College, University of Oxford. During his years in university, he was drawn to Aestheticism, the art movement prevalent in late 19th century. He wrote essays, propagated ideas as a lecturer and also wrote the famous novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which he vehemently defended using the concept of making ‘art for art’s sake’.

His aesthetic sensibilities mixed with his wit were apparent in notable plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan, and established him as a successful playwright.
However, Wilde had a harrowing personal life because of his homosexuality. He was prosecuted and imprisoned in 1895 for two years. The idea of homosexuality in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was used against him to strengthen the case. Upon his release, he left for France, never to return to England.
His health declined after his release from prison and he died of meningitis in 1900, aged 46.

"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. The Picture of Dorian Gray, the only novel by Oscar Wilde is also his most famous work. First published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890, the novel was recognised as a masterpiece decades later. Initially, it garnered negative criticism due to the undercurrents of homosexuality which hurt Victorian sensibility. In his characteristic witty fashion, Wilde conveys brilliantly the relationship between art, life and morality. Dorian Gray, a disarmingly good-looking young man, marvels at his own portrait and is resentful of the idea of the portrait remaining beautiful while he is destined to age. Thus, he makes a Faustian wish to remain young and retain his physical beauty forever whereas his portrait is to be marked with age and his moral degradation. Oscar Wilde notably defended The Picture of Dorian Gray by seeking the artist’s right to make ‘art for art’s sake’, a concept famous during Aestheticism in the latter half of the 19th century. The Picture of Dorian Gray remains influential even in the 21st century."


Born on 16 October 1854, Oscar Wilde was a famous Irish poet and playwright. Part of a family of intellectuals, he was educated at the most prestigious colleges in Great Britain Trinity College, University of Dublin and Magdalen College, University of Oxford. During his years in university, he was drawn to Aestheticism, the art movement prevalent in late 19th century. He wrote essays, propagated ideas as a lecturer and also wrote the famous novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which he vehemently defended using the concept of making ‘art for art’s sake’.

His aesthetic sensibilities mixed with his wit were apparent in notable plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan, and established him as a successful playwright.
However, Wilde had a harrowing personal life because of his homosexuality. He was prosecuted and imprisoned in 1895 for two years. The idea of homosexuality in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was used against him to strengthen the case. Upon his release, he left for France, never to return to England.
His health declined after his release from prison and he died of meningitis in 1900, aged 46.

"If a thing is right, it can be done, and if it is wrong, it can be done without; and a good man will find a way. Black Beauty, a young colt, is raised with love and care by his benevolent master, Farmer Grey. Once he grows up to be a handsome stallion, due to a cruel twist of fate, his master is forced to sell him. Leaving his carefree days on an English farm behind, Black Beauty soon finds himself in the hands of several ruthless owners and carriage drivers in London. Battling the bitterness of his masters, he yearns to return to the freedom and comforts of his country life. Black Beauty, the autobiography of a horse, was written during the last seven years of Anna Sewell’s life. A testimony to her outrage against the ill-treatment of horses in Victorian England and her empathy for animals, it remains an evergreen classic!"


Born on 30 March 1820 in Norfolk, England, Anna Sewell wrote only one book—Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse that was published in November 1877. Little did she know that it would become one of the bestselling and most loved classics of all time. From an early age, Anna Sewell assisted her mother, Mary Wright Sewell, a well-known author of children’s books, in editing her manuscripts. For lack of means and fortune, she was home-schooled.
At 14, she slipped and gravely injured her ankles. Following this mishap, she spent most of her life confined to her home, and her mobility depended only on horsedrawn carriages. A fictional autobiography of a high-bred horse, Black Beauty was not just a novel for children. Anna Sewell’s intent behind writing the book was, ‘to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses’. The use of anthropomorphism as a literary device in Black Beauty stems from her love of horses and her deep resentment against the ill-treatment of animals. Anna Sewell never married. She died in 1878, five months after Black Beauty was published.

"In order to reach perfection, one must begin by being ignorant of a great deal. A descendant of one of Russian nobility’s oldest families, the gentle, good natured and epileptic Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to St. Petersburg after spending four years in a Swiss sanatorium. Taken to be an ‘idiot’, Prince Myshkin’s life changes drastically after he stumbles upon a photograph of Nastasya Filippovna during a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin. Entangled in a web of love, betrayal, and murder, the Christ-like Prince Myshkin struggles to negotiate a chaotic and corrupt Russian society. Regarded as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s most autobiographical work, The Idiot, as the author wrote in a letter in 1868, was meant “to depict a positively good and beautiful human being”. Through the exploration of the psychological complexities and idiosyncrasies of modern Russian society, Dostoevsky presents the life of a Russian Holy Fool in a world of moral emptiness and degradation. The Idiot remains an evergreen classic."


Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the finest psychologists in world literature, was born in Moscow in 1821. Introduced to literature from the age of three, he was very close to his parents and ‘nanny’. His literary upbringing was influenced by Alena Frolovna, his nanny, who would read to him fairy tales, heroic sagas, and legends.As a student too, he was drawn to Romantic
and Gothic fiction, especially the works of Sir Walter Scott, Nikolay Karamzin, Ann Radcliffe, Alexander Pushkin, and Friedrich Schiller among others. Unlike his contemporary writers, Dostoevsky was not born into the landed gentry.Therefore, his literary works foregrounded the lives of “accidental families” and of “the insulted and the humiliated”. His stories explored human psychology in the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.
His first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25.This gained him entry into St. Petersburg’s literary circles. In 1849, he was arrested for being part of a literary group that discussed ‘banned’ books of Tsarist Russia. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Notes from Underground (1864), his novella, is considered one of the earliest works of existentialist literature.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the finest psychologists in world literature, was born in Moscow in 1821. Introduced to literature from the age of three, he was very close to his parents and ‘nanny’. His literary upbringing was influenced by Alena Frolovna, his nanny, who would read to him fairy tales, heroic sagas, and legends.As a student too, he was drawn to Romantic
and Gothic fiction, especially the works of Sir Walter Scott, Nikolay Karamzin, Ann Radcliffe, Alexander Pushkin, and Friedrich Schiller among others. Unlike his contemporary writers, Dostoevsky was not born into the landed gentry.Therefore, his literary works foregrounded the lives of “accidental families” and of “the insulted and the humiliated”. His stories explored human psychology in the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.
His first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25.This gained him entry into St. Petersburg’s literary circles. In 1849, he was arrested for being part of a literary group that discussed ‘banned’ books of Tsarist Russia. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Notes from Underground (1864), his novella, is considered one of the earliest works of existentialist literature.


Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the finest psychologists in world literature, was born in Moscow in 1821. Introduced to literature from the age of three, he was very close to his parents and ‘nanny’. His literary upbringing was influenced by Alena Frolovna, his nanny, who would read to him fairy tales, heroic sagas, and legends.As a student too, he was drawn to Romantic
and Gothic fiction, especially the works of Sir Walter Scott, Nikolay Karamzin, Ann Radcliffe, Alexander Pushkin, and Friedrich Schiller among others. Unlike his contemporary writers, Dostoevsky was not born into the landed gentry.Therefore, his literary works foregrounded the lives of “accidental families” and of “the insulted and the humiliated”. His stories explored human psychology in the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.
His first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25.This gained him entry into St. Petersburg’s literary circles. In 1849, he was arrested for being part of a literary group that discussed ‘banned’ books of Tsarist Russia. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Notes from Underground (1864), his novella, is considered one of the earliest works of existentialist literature.

"Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final work, The Brothers Karamazov, is arguably one of the best novels ever written in any language. Set in 19th-century Russia, the novel was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. The story revolves around the murder of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov—the father of the Karamazov brothers—a debauched man who leads a hedonistic life and excels in the art of seducing women.A spiritual drama of sorts, the story of Fyodor and his three sons from different wives, embodies Dostoevsky’s philosophy and delves into debates on morality, free will and God. Dostoevsky’s hero Alyosha was named after his own son who died of epilepsy at the age of three in 1878.The qualities that Dostoevsky admired in his son are reflected in the eponymous character, created and developed as a cathartic process. Dostoevsky died less than four months after the publication of The Brothers Karamazov. Constance Garnett’s English translation of the novel was released in 1912. It is believed that a copy of The Brothers Karamazov was found next to Leo Tolstoy’s nightstand when he died."


Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the finest psychologists in world literature, was born in Moscow in 1821. Introduced to literature from the age of three, he was very close to his parents and ‘nanny’. His literary upbringing was influenced by Alena Frolovna, his nanny, who would read to him fairy tales, heroic sagas, and legends.As a student too, he was drawn to Romantic
and Gothic fiction, especially the works of Sir Walter Scott, Nikolay Karamzin, Ann Radcliffe, Alexander Pushkin, and Friedrich Schiller among others. Unlike his contemporary writers, Dostoevsky was not born into the landed gentry.Therefore, his literary works foregrounded the lives of “accidental families” and of “the insulted and the humiliated”. His stories explored human psychology in the turbulent socio-political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.
His first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25.This gained him entry into St. Petersburg’s literary circles. In 1849, he was arrested for being part of a literary group that discussed ‘banned’ books of Tsarist Russia. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Notes from Underground (1864), his novella, is considered one of the earliest works of existentialist literature.

"Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves. Considered one of the most important modernist works in literature, James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is often referred to as a modern parallel of Homer’s epic poem, Odyssey. The story revolves around the events of a single ordinary day, 16 June 1904, in the life of Leopold Bloom, Mary Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, the famous hero from Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who act as counterparts of Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope respectively from the epic poem. Joyce portrays modernist concerns in the context of the 20th century by enhancing the structural similarities yet stark differences between the events and characters of the epic poem and his novel. His use of ingenious characterisation and humour as well as literary techniques such as stream of consciousness, allusions and puns not only enrich the novel but also elucidate the inner workings of the mind and the nonlinear progressions of thought. Fans of the author now celebrate 16 June worldwide as Bloomsday."


Born on 2 February 1882 in Dublin, Ireland, James Joyce was one of the most revered writers of the 20th century. His masterpiece, Ulysses, remains an unparalleled literary feat. His exploration of language and his exceptional use of the stream-of-consciousness technique immensely contributed to the modernist avant-garde, inspiring contemporary writers to experiment with fresh perspective.
A brilliant student, Joyce briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O’Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere. In 1904, in his early twenties, he emigrated permanently to continental Europe with his partner and future wife, Nora Barnacle. Though most of his life was spent in Trieste, Paris and Zurich, his fictional universe was largely set in Dublin, with characters who resembled his family members, acquaintances, friends and enemies. Joyce’s other well known works include Dubliners, a short-story collection; his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which caught the attention of the American poet, Ezra Pound, who praised him for his unconventional style and voice, and the masterly Finnegans Wake. Following the Nazi invasion of Paris, he and his family moved to southern France in 1940. On 13 January 1941, following an intestinal operation, the writer passed away in Zurich, where he is buried in the Fluntern cemetery.

"The first novel by Irish writer, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a coming-of-age tale about the religious and intellectual awakening of the protagonist. In this semi-autobiographical novel, Joyce examines what distinguishes the individual from the social, religious and cultural, by mapping the ever-changing landscape of the mind. Written in a modernist style, the novel traces the journey of young Stephen Dedalus, a fictitious alter ego of Joyce, with an allusion to the skilful craftsman and artist of Greek mythology. Stephen rebels against the Catholic and Irish mores that govern his upbringing, culminating in his self-imposed exile from Ireland to Europe. American modernist poet Ezra Pound had the novel serialised in the English literary magazine The Egotist in 1914 and 1915. Published as a book in 1916 by B.W. Huebsch of New York, Joyce’s debut novel earned him his place as a frontrunner of literary modernism."

Born on 2 February 1882 in Dublin, Ireland, James Joyce was one of the most revered writers of the 20th century. His masterpiece, Ulysses, remains an unparalleled literary feat. His exploration of language and his exceptional use of the stream-of-consciousness technique immensely contributed to the modernist avant-garde, inspiring contemporary writers to experiment with fresh perspective.
A brilliant student, Joyce briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O’Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere. In 1904, in his early twenties, he emigrated permanently to continental Europe with his partner and future wife, Nora Barnacle. Though most of his life was spent in Trieste, Paris and Zurich, his fictional universe was largely set in Dublin, with characters who resembled his family members, acquaintances, friends and enemies. Joyce’s other well known works include Dubliners, a short-story collection; his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which caught the attention of the American poet, Ezra Pound, who praised him for his unconventional style and voice, and the masterly Finnegans Wake. Following the Nazi invasion of Paris, he and his family moved to southern France in 1940. On 13 January 1941, following an intestinal operation, the writer passed away in Zurich, where he is buried in the Fluntern cemetery.

Let’s enjoy the beautiful things we can see, my dear, and not think about those we cannot. A book “for children and those who love children”, Heidi (1881) is a story of an orphan girl who is sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps. The embittered grandfather who lives in seclusion, is known as ‘Uncle Alp’, and deeply resents Heidi’s arrival. But soon, he grows fond of her. Lost in the idyllic world of snow-covered mountains, Heidi befriends Peter, the goatherd, his mother, Bridget, and his blind maternal grandmother. While all seems well in Heidi’s wonderland, she is soon compelled to leave the comforts of the hills and go to Frankfurt to live with a differently-abled girl named Clara. Overcoming the initial difficulties, Heidi and Clara become friends. Amidst the grey streets of a new city, Heidi struggles to overcome her homesickness. If only she could return to the mountains. Will she ever meet her grandfather again? Written well over a century ago, Johanna Spyri’s evergreen tale of a young girl’s coming of age, of her bravery and compassion, remains a classic.


Born on 12 June 1827, Johanna Heusser was raised in Hirzel, a small village in Zurich, Switzerland. Her mother Meta Heusser-Schweizer wrote religious poetry and hymns, and agreed to have her works published on the condition that her identity wouldn’t be disclosed. In 1875, a selection of Alpine Lyrics by her was translated into English.

At 16, Johanna was sent to a residential school in Yverdon, western Switzerland. Later, she studied Modern Languages and Piano in Zurich.
In 1852, Johanna married a lawyer and journalist named Johann Bernhard Spyri. Her husband being a workaholic, their marriage suffered and gradually, Johanna sunk into depression. In 1884, tragedy struck when she lost her son, Bernhard—who was only 28—and her husband.
Encouraged by a family friend, Johanna began to write to overcome depression and published her first story ‘Ein Blatt auf Vronys Grab’ (A Leaf From Vrony’s Grave) in 1871. The success of her very first story fuelled her passion for writing, that she pursued diligently. Between 1871 and 1901, Johanna published 27 books and several volumes of stories for children and adults.
As a writer, she was concerned about the upbringing of children in 19th-century Europe. Instead of treating them as ‘imperfect’ adults, she wanted to present a child’s world as very different from an adult’s.
Heidi (1881), a novel that she wrote in four weeks, reflects the writer’s psychological insight into a child’s mind. A world classic, which has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, Heidi has been translated from German into 50 languages. Johanna Spyri died in Zurich on 7 July 1901.

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, is the tale of Hester Prynne’s ‘shame’ following the birth of a child whose father remains unidentified for the larger part of the narrative. Hester’s defiance in the face of expulsion and repudiation makes her a heroine ahead of her time. Pearl, the illegitimate daughter, Arthur Dimmesdale, the ‘cheating’ Minister of Church, Reverend John Wilson, and the malicious Roger Chillingworth are Hawthorne’s characters whose lives, premised on guilt and pride, take a tumultuous turn as the cataclysmic outcome of an act of passion. The embroidered scarlet ‘A’—that she is required to wear on her dress on the day of her punishment— becomes a manifestation of Hester’s ‘adultery’, her erratic past and ignominious present. Will she break her vow of silence?"


American novelist and short story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4 July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts.
Hawthorne studied at Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1825 and shortly thereafter published his first novel Fanshawe in 1828. In 1836, he served as the editor of the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge.
Predominantly a short story writer in his early career, Hawthorne, after publishing Twice-Told Tales (1837), surprisingly observed about his own works, “I do not think much of them.” However, his most popular short stories include ‘My Kinsman, Major Molineux’ (1832), ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ (1832), ‘Young Goodman Brown’ (1835) and ‘Feathertop’ (1852).
Hawthorne’s other major romances apart from the bestselling The Scarlet Letter (1850) were The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860). For Hawthorne, romance was about exploring psychological themes like sin, human fallibility, self-destruction and retribution. Dark romanticism bordering on surrealism is what Hawthorne’s works, inspired by Puritan New England, were steeped in.
His seminal essay ‘Chiefly About War Matters’ (1862) foregrounded the author’s experiences of meeting eminent figures like Abraham Lincoln, during his travel to Washington, D.C., amidst the American Civil War.
Among his published works, a biography of his college friend Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States is also noteworthy.
Hawthorne died in his sleep on 19 May 1864.

"Jules Verne's Around The World In 80 Days (1873) is the story of Phileas Fogg, an affluent English gentleman who leads a solitar y life. Though Fogg doesn't boast of a vibrant social life, he is a member of the Reform Club. After reading an article in The Daily Telegraph about the opening of a new railway section in India, which promises to make travel around the world possible in 80 days, he accepts a wager for 20,000 from fellow club members, which will be given to him only if he makes it around the world in 80 days. With his newly employed French manservant Passepartout, he leaves London by train on 2 October 1872. From rescuing a Raja's young wife from sati in the exotic land of India, boarding a train from San Francisco to New York which is attacked by a livid Sioux tribe, to finding a steamboat destined for Bordeaux, France, the heroic travellers "adventures continue to mesmerise readers even today."


Born on 8 February 1828, Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet and playwright who has also been the second most-translated writer in the world since 1979.
Popular for writing about air, underwater and space travel much before submarines or air travel became a reality, Verne was a visionary. Early in life, he began writing for magazines and his collaboration with Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extraordinaires series that included Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1864), 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870) and Around The World In 80 Days (1873). A writer of plays, poems, operetta libretti, short stories, essays and miscellaneous non-fiction, Verne, in his works imagined a more harmonious and humanitarian society.
English translations of Verne's novels began in 1869 with William Lackland's translation of Five Weeks In A Balloon (originally published in 1863), and continued throughout his writing career, with publishers and translators working together to have his most popular books printed into English language.
On Verne and his influence on literature, Ray Bradbury had remarked, "We are all, in one way or another, the children of Jules Verne."