Ethan Allen Hawley has lost the acquisitive spirit of his wealthy and enterprising forebears, a long line of proud New England sea captains and Pilgrims. Scarred by failure, Ethan works as a grocery clerk in a store his family once owned. But his wife is restless and his teenage children troubled and hungry for the material comforts he cannot provide. Then a series of unusual events reignites Ethan's ambition, and he is pitched on to a bold course, where all scruples are put aside. Steinbeck's searing examination of the evil influences of money, immorality, greed and ambition on America drew acclaim from the Nobel Committee who hailed him as an 'independent expounder of the truth'. schovat popis
Luciano Bianciardi Books
This author masterfully captures the tension between provincial life and the metropolis, between tradition and modernity. His works, often infused with autobiography and social commentary, keenly examine Italian society during the post-war boom. With sharp irony and keen observation, he portrays the anxious pursuit of prosperity and the risks of alienation in a rapidly changing world. His style is both literary and urgently contemporary, offering readers a compelling look at the complexities of modern Italian life.
La vita agra
- 199 pages
- 7 hours of reading
La vita agra segnò per Luciano Bianciardi il momento dell’autentico successo - un successo che non tardò a fare entrare in sofferenza un intelletto indipendente come il suo. Il romanzo, ampiamente autobiografico, vede il protagonista lasciare la provincia e con essa la moglie e il figlioletto per andare a vivere a Milano. L’intento iniziale è far saltare un grattacielo, per vendicare i minatori morti in un incidente causato dalla scarsa sicurezza sul lavoro (il riferimento è all’incidente alla miniera di Ribolla del 1954, in cui persero la vita quarantatré minatori). Ma il protagonista vive in perenne bilico fra voglia di far esplodere il sistema e desiderio di esserne riconosciuto… A cinquant’anni dalla prima pubblicazione nel 1962, La vita agra resta un incomparabile sguardo sulle conseguenze umane e sociali del boom economico italiano, ricco di una scrittura irrequieta, precisa, impossibile da imbrigliare. Al romanzo si ispirò il celebre film La vita agra di Carlo Lizzani, con Ugo Tognazzi che interpretava il Bianciardi/protagonista.
The controversial, erotic and hilarious companion to the legendary 'Tropic of Cancer', in a new Perennial Modern Classics edition.
Tropic of Cancer
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
Miller's groundbreaking first novel, banned in Britain for almost thirty years. A penniless and as yet unpublished writer, Henry Miller arrived in Paris in 1930. Leaving behind a disintegrating marriage and an unhappy career in America, he threw himself into the low-life of bohemian Paris with unwavering gusto. A fictional account of Miller's adventures amongst the prostitutes and pimps, the penniless painters and writers of Montparnasse, Tropic of Cancer is an extravagant and rhapsodic hymn to a world of unrivalled eroticism and freedom. Tropic of Cancer's 1934 publication in France was hailed by Samuel Beckett as 'a momentous event in the history of modern writing'. The novel was subsequently banned in the UK and the USA and not released for publication for a further thirty years.