يدرس غسان كنفاني "الأدب الصهيوني " الذي" كُتب ليخدم حركة استعمار اليهود لفلسطين، سواء كتبه يهود أم كتّاب يعطفون، لسبب أو لآخر، على الصهيونية ويخدمونها وهو يشمل الأدب الذي كتب بلغات غير عبرية، ومن قبل كتّاب غير يهود طالما أنه ينضوي تحت راية الصهيونية السياسية ويخدم مخططاتها".

On Zionist Literature is Ghassan Kanafani's study of the literature that served the Jewish movement's colonization of Palestine, whether written by Jewish or non-Jewish authors. The study includes literature written in languages other than Hebrew, including non-Jews, as long as it served political Zionism.

هذا الأدب الذي ظل مجهولاً بالنسبة لنا طوال سنوات المنفى، بالرغم من آنه يشكل الجانب الأكثر إشراقاً في كفاح الشعب المغلوب على أمره." يقع هذا الكتاب في ثلاثة فصول رئيسية: "أدب المقاومة بعد الكارثة"، و"البطل العربي في الرواية الصهيونية مقابل أدب المقاومة"، و"نماذج من شعر القاومة العربي"

"..This literature, remained unknown to us throughout the years of exile, although it is the brighter side in the struggle of the helpless people. The book is in three main chapters: 'Resistance Literature after the disaster' and 'Arab hero in the Zionist narrative versus resistance literature', and 'poetry samples of Arab resistance'."

Rabindranath Tagore, like Chaucer’s forerunners, writes music for his words, and one understands at every moment that he is so abundant, so spontaneous, so daring in his passion, so full of surprise, because he is doing something which has never seemed strange, unnatural, or in need of defence. – W.B. Yeats

RABINDRANATH TAGORE, an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, was a polymath who not only reformed Bengali literature and music, but also combined Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the 19th and 20th centuries. He also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali, a profound collection of songs he authored. Also called the "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore's poetry is both spiritual and effervescent. Along with a writer, Tagore was a humanist, and believed in universal internationalism. He was an ardent supporter of India's freedom from the colonial regime. Other seminal works by him include Gora and Ghare-Baire, while he also wrote plays like Visarjan, Chandalika, and The Post Office. Tagore is also responsible for the composition of the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, and is said to have inspired Sri Lanka's national anthem as well. He passed away in 1941.

The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
British writer Rudyard Kipling’s beloved classic The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) mainly feature animals. These stories were first published in magazines from 1893 to 1894, accompanied by illustrations, some created by Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling.
The central character of The Jungle Book is a little boy or “man cub” named Mowgli who is raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves. Kipling gifts the readers a memorable cast of characters, which includes Baloo the bear and Shere Khan the tiger who play a major role in Mowgli’s life. Mowgli’s stay in the jungle and his journey to the village reveal the laws of the natural world and the complicated machinery of the man-made one.
Packed with fun and adventure as well as insightful moral lessons, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book remain favourites of both children and adults all over the world.

British writer Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was born in Mumbai, India and educated in England. He returned to India in 1882 to live with his parents. Kipling’s experiences during his stay in India inspired him to write and publish several short stories. These were featured in his collection titled Plain Tales From the Hills (1888), which became very popular in England. Kipling also published a second collection of short stories titled Wee Willie Winkie (1888), and American Notes (1891), which featured his first impressions of America. Amongst Kipling’s bestselling books are The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). The prolific author was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 for “originality of imagination, virility of ideas, and remarkable talent for narration” which characterise his creations.

Franz Kafka’s short stories—shocking, complex, intriguing, and unsettling—show him at the height of his writing prowess. Kafka takes on universal themes such as guilt, isolation, alienation, self-expression, cruelty, judgement, shame, sin, and redemption in them. Hovering between dream and reality, his dark and brilliantly crafted stories are populated by both humans and animals. They are intense, enigmatic, filled with generous doses of irony and horror that inspire the reader to search for meaning in the world’s maze. This collection features an impressive clutch of his short stories including In ‘The Penal Colony’, ‘The Hunger Artist’, ‘The Metamorphosis’, ‘The Burrow’, ‘The Judgment’, ‘Before the Law’, ‘A Country Doctor’, and ‘ The Great Wall of China’. ‘ The Penal Colony’ is seeped in the dehumanising horror of WWI and it mixes the dazzle of modern technological advances with the barbarism of archaic, absolute law. ‘The Metamorphosis’ in which the alienated hero turns into an insect is an exquisite study of the human condition. The characters in Kafka’s stories are hunted and haunted, wandering in a world governed by forces beyond their control.

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). His father was a middle-class businessman, an extremely domineering parent who disapproved of Kafka’s fondness for literature. His mother Julie was better educated than his father. Kafka obtained the degree of Doctor of Law in 1906 and worked for a year as a law clerk for the civil and criminal courts. From 1908–1922, he worked with the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His influential works (originally written in the German) such as the novels The Trial (1925) in which a man is charged with an unnamed offence, and The Metamorphosis (1915) in which the hero is transformed into an insect, mirror the alienation and anxiety experienced by many in the 20th century. Kafka allowed very few of his writings to be published while he was alive. Most of his critically lauded novels and stories appeared in print only after his death. He became an important figure of German and world 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 Divine Comedy, (original name La Commedia), is an epic poem written by celebrated Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Divided into three main sections— Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the basic structural unit of The Divine Comedy is the canto. Each canto consists of about 136–151 lines. The poem’s rhyme scheme is the terza rima (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.). So, the divine number of three is present throughout The Divine Comedy.
The poem traces the journey of a man (thought to be Dante himself) who visits the souls in Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He has two guides by his side—Virgil who accompanies him to Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice who introduces him to Paradiso. Dante uses this fictional journey as an effective device to grapple with the larger questions of existence—morality,
sin, redemption, the fall of mankind—as well as to wrestle with his personal demons and Italy’s political dilemmas.

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was a renowned Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, philosopher, and political thinker. His epic poem, La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), is one of the most celebrated works of world literature. His other notable works include La Vita Nouva, The Banquet, and Literature in the Vernacular. Dante started writing poetry at a very young age and dedicated most of his poems to Beatrice, a girl he met when he was nine years old. Facing execution in his hometown of Florence due to his political activities, he moved to Ravenna, Italy,
where he remained till his death in 1321.

All human wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.
On his wedding day, Edmond Dantès, a sailor, is arrested for treason. Charged with being a Bonapartiste, he is wrongfully imprisoned without trial in the dreaded Château d’If. Dantès has been betrayed, concludes his fellow prisoner and mentor, Abbé Faria.
After a dramatic escape from prison, Dantès acquires a fortune at the Island of Monte Cristo, and returns to France as the mysterious and sought-after Count of Monte Cristo. With steely resolve, he sets about wreaking vengeance on those who conspired his ruination. And with devastating consequences.
Set in France, Italy, and the islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815-1839, this literary classic by Alexandre Dumas, père, originally published between 1844 and 1845, is an exploration of universal themes like romance, hope, loyalty, betrayal, vengeance, forgiveness, and justice.

Born as Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on 24 July 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, Picardy, France, AlexAndre dumAs was one of the most prolific authors of his time.The last name Dumas was adopted from his grandmother, a former enslaved Haitian woman. His father,Thomas-Alexandre, assumed the name Dumas when he enlisted in Napoleons army. Here, he was given the dubious nickname Black Devil.
Popular for his historical adventure novels like The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers (initially published as serials), Dumas immersed himself in literature after he moved to Paris in 1822. During the 1830 revolution, he worked as a scribe for the Ducd Orléans (later named King Louis Philippe), and began writing dramas and comedies. Dumas had a penchant for writing volumes of essays on some of the most infamous cases in history. It is believed that his published works totalled 100,000 pages and his works have been translated into more than 100 languages.
A household name and a celebrity in France and across Europe, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris in the 1840s.
Dumas died on 5 December 1870, in Puys, France. He was buried at his birthplace of Villers- Cotterêts in the department of Aisne.
In 1970, as a mark of honour, the Alexandre Dumas Paris Métro station was named after
the author. His country home outside Paris, the Château de Monte-Cristo, has been restored as a museum.

Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.
221B Baker Street. The most beloved fictional detective is in pursuit of the absolute truth.
Dr. Watson, his sidekick and biographer, cannot help but marvel at his friend's impeccable logic, and what he deems elementary, Watson finds extraordinary.
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes has some of the earliest as well as greatest Sherlock Holmes short stories ever written by the master of detective fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Amongst his personal favourites are The Adventure of the Speckled Band', 'The Red-Headed League', 'A Scandal in Bohemia', 'The Five Orange Pips', and 'The Final Problem'.
A keepsake edition.

Born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE started writing stories as a student. With a repertoire of over 30 books, 150 short stories, essays, plays, and poems, he earned the distinction of being one of the greatest short story writers ever, since Edgar Allan Poe. A master of all literary genres, his memorable creation is the invincible sleuth Sherlock Holmes whom the readers are introduced to in his first novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887). Such was the charisma of this Great Detective that after the author killed Holmes in ‘The Final Problem’ (1893), he was compelled to bring Holmes back after vociferous demands from readers.
A war correspondent, a spiritualist, an athlete, and a historian, the author was knighted for his contribution to Literature in a South African field hospital during the Boer War in 1902. He died on 7 July 1930 in Crowborough, Sussex.

"The merit of all things lies in their difficulty. The Three Musketeers originally published in French as Les Trois Mousquetaires (1844) is one of the most famous works by Alexandre Dumas. Set in the 1620s, the story follows the adventures of the youthfully ambitious d’Artagnan as he seeks a place in the prestigious Musketeers of the Guard. However, d’Artagnan loses an important letter of introduction due to a series of misfortunes, and is unable to join the Guard immediately. However, he ends up befriending Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the three valiant musketeers who exemplify loyalty and devotion in friendship, and live by the motto, “all for one and one for all”. What follows is a brilliant tale of political intrigue, espionage, duels, murders, romance and friendship. The success of the novel led to two sequels—Twenty Years After (1845) and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (1850). The Three Musketeers has also been adapted into film, television, stage as well as other art forms."


Born as Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie on 24 July 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, Picardy, France, AlexAndre dumAs was one of the most prolific authors of his time.The last name ‘Dumas’ was adopted from his grandmother, a former enslaved Haitian woman. His father,Thomas-Alexandre, assumed the name Dumas when he enlisted in Napoleon’s army. Here, he was given the dubious nickname ‘Black Devil.’
Popular for his historical adventure novels like The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers (initially published as serials), Dumas immersed himself in literature after he moved to Paris in 1822. During the 1830 revolution, he worked as a scribe for the Duc d’Orléans (later named King Louis Philippe), and began writing dramas and comedies. Dumas had a penchant for writing volumes of essays on some of the most infamous cases in history. It is believed that his published works totalled 100,000 pages and his works have been translated into more than 100 languages.
A household name and a celebrity in France and across Europe, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris in the 1840s.
Dumas died on 5 December 1870, in Puys, France. He was buried at his birthplace of Villers- Cotterêts in the department of Aisne.
In 1970, as a mark of honour, the Alexandre Dumas Paris Métro station was named after
the author. His country home outside Paris, the Château de Monte-Cristo, has been restored as a museum.

From the repertoire of William Shakespeare’s most remarkable romantic comedies and classical tragedies, Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is a keepsake collection for all lovers of literature. From Portia’s spontaneous wit to Desdemona’s untainted innocence; Cordelia’s candour to Romeo and Juliet’s tragic tale of passionate love, Tales from Shakespeare explores all facets of human personality with utmost sensitivity and great finesse. Charles and Mary Lamb promise their young readers a unique rediscovery of the Bard’s 20 phenomenal plays, bringing them closer to the relevance of the revered author’s prose and verse in the 21st century. The language is simple, the literary flavour is intact and the reading experience is exceptionally soul-satisfying. This collection is a perfect companion for all seasons.


CHARLES LAMB (1775-1834), an English essayist and playwright, is best-known for his collection of essays Essays of Elia. His older sister, MARY LAMB (1764-1847) was an English writer Despite his unstable mental state, Charles Lamb enjoyed an active social life, with his London salon as a weekly meeting place for the most eminent authors, artists and actors of the era. However, Mary's mental state was more unstable than her brother's, and in 1976, she suffered from a nervous breakdown, after which she was put in the care of her younger brother In 1807, encouraged by their close friend, novelist and philosopher William Godwin, they both collaborated to write the groundbreaking book, Tales from Shakespeare aiming at simplifying 20 of Shakespeare's plays for young readers. The book is one of the world's leading classics today

"First published as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, Gulliver's Travels is a fine example of satire on human nature as well as on the genre of travel writing. A masterpiece of English literature, the novel has never gone out of print since its publication in 1726. Its universality is truly commendable as it can be read as a children's story as well as a work of satire on English politics and society. The story follows the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver as he travels to four distinct lands-Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the kingdom of Laputa and surrounding territories, and the Land of the Houyhnhnms where he meets curious creatures and witnesses worldviews starkly opposed to that of the English society he is so familiar with. An evergreen tale, Gulliver's Travels has been adapted to music, film, television and radio several times over the years."


Born on 30 November 1667, Jonathan Swift was a famous Irish author, satirist and clergyman well known for writing Gulliver's Travels and A Tale of a Tub. Popular for being a political satirist, he worked as editor of the political magazine Examiner, the official paper of the Tories when they came to power in 1710. Swift also published an important political pamphlet known as The Conduct of the Day which was a sharp attack on the Whigs. He later went on to become the dean of St. Patric's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland.

"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).

"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.

"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.