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Max Bollinger
2) Hard times
Author
Series
Summary
"Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, full as it is with family difficulties, estrangement, rotten values and unhappiness. It was published in 1854 and it is the story of the family of Thomas Gradgrind, and occurs in the imaginary Coketown, an industrial city inspired by Preston. Gradgrind is a man obsessed with misguided 'Utilitarian' values that make him trust facts, statistics and practicality more than emotion and is based upon...
3) Gooseberry
Author
Series
Summary
Nikolai Ivanich has never reconciled himself to life in the city and makes plans to acquire enough money to buy a small estate where he can grow gooseberries, a symbol in his mind of happy life in the countryside. He saves every penny and spends his days dreaming of the future estate: where the main building will be located, ducks swimming in a pond, and where the gooseberry bushes will be planted. His brother sees it as an escape from reality and...
Author
Summary
In Willa Cather's The Burglar's Christmas‚ a young drifter finds himself alone on Christmas Eve, penniless and starving. Though he has failed at everything in life, including crime, he decides to break into a home and rob it to raise money for food. When he is caught in the act by the lady of the house, they both come to a terrible realization. The burglar's desperate act leads to a transformative act of holiday love and charity. First published...
