Зарубежная классика - ТОП 50 лучших книг
BY a curious irony of fate, the places to which we are sent when health deserts us are often singularly beautiful. Often, too, they are places we have visited in former years, or seen briefly in passing by, and kept ever afterwards in pious memory; and we please ourselves with the fancy that we shall repeat many vivid and pleasurable sensations, and take up again the thread of our enjoyment in the same spirit as we let it fall. We shall now have an opportunity of finishing many pleasant excursions, interrupted of yore before our curiosity was fully satisfied. It may be that we have kept in mind, during all these years, the recollection of some valley into which we have just looked down for a moment before we lost sight of it in the disorder of the hills; it may be that we have lain awake at night, and agreeably tantalised ourselves with the thought of corners we had never turned, or summits we had all but climbed: we shall now be able, as we tell ourselves, to complete all these unfinished pleasures, and …
BY a curious irony of fate, the places to which we are sent when health deserts us are often singularly beautiful. Often, too, they are places we have visited in former years, or seen briefly in passing by, and kept ever afterwards in pious memory; and we please ourselves with the fancy that we shall repeat many vivid and pleasurable sensations, and take up again the thread of our enjoyment in the same spirit as we let it fall. We shall now have an opportunity of finishing many pleasant excursions, interrupted of yore before our curiosity was fully satisfied. It may be that we have kept in mind, during all these years, the recollection of some valley into which we have just looked down for a moment before we lost sight of it in the disorder of the hills; it may be that we have lain awake at night, and agreeably tantalised ourselves with the thought of corners we had never turned, or summits we had all but climbed: we shall now be able, as we tell ourselves, to complete all these unfinished pleasures, and …
BY a curious irony of fate, the places to which we are sent when health deserts us are often singularly beautiful. Often, too, they are places we have visited in former years, or seen briefly in passing by, and kept ever afterwards in pious memory; and we please ourselves with the fancy that we shall repeat many vivid and pleasurable sensations, and take up again the thread of our enjoyment in the same spirit as we let it fall. We shall now have an opportunity of finishing many pleasant excursions, interrupted of yore before our curiosity was fully satisfied. It may be that we have kept in mind, during all these years, the recollection of some valley into which we have just looked down for a moment before we lost sight of it in the disorder of the hills; it may be that we have lain awake at night, and agreeably tantalised ourselves with the thought of corners we had never turned, or summits we had all but climbed: we shall now be able, as we tell ourselves, to complete all these unfinished pleasures, and …
BY a curious irony of fate, the places to which we are sent when health deserts us are often singularly beautiful. Often, too, they are places we have visited in former years, or seen briefly in passing by, and kept ever afterwards in pious memory; and we please ourselves with the fancy that we shall repeat many vivid and pleasurable sensations, and take up again the thread of our enjoyment in the same spirit as we let it fall. We shall now have an opportunity of finishing many pleasant excursions, interrupted of yore before our curiosity was fully satisfied. It may be that we have kept in mind, during all these years, the recollection of some valley into which we have just looked down for a moment before we lost sight of it in the disorder of the hills; it may be that we have lain awake at night, and agreeably tantalised ourselves with the thought of corners we had never turned, or summits we had all but climbed: we shall now be able, as we tell ourselves, to complete all these unfinished pleasures, and …
Keep the Aspidistra Flying is George Orwell's savagely satirical portrait of the literary life and is based loosely on his own experiences of writing life and working at Westrope�s Bookshop in Hampstead.
London, 1936. Gordon Comstock has declared war on the money god; and Gordon is losing the war. Nearly 30 and «rather moth-eaten already,» a poet whose one small book of verse has fallen «flatter than any pancake,» Gordon rejects money-worship and a steady job in advertising for the pursuit of creativity. But poverty soon bites, and with it his creative spirit disappears. Only his ever-faithful Rosemary can rouse him from the stupor and challenge his commitment to his chosen way of life.
Punctuated with autobiographical detail, Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a tragically comic account of one man�s struggle to escape from a materialistic life.
Чтение оригинальных произведений – простой и действенный способ погрузиться в языковую среду и совершенствоваться в иностранном языке. Серия «Бестселлер на все времена» – это возможность улучшить свой английский, читая лучшие произведения англоязычных авторов, любимые миллионами читателей. Для лучшего понимания текста в книгу включены краткий словарь и комментарии, поясняющие языковые и лингвострановедческие вопросы, исторические и культурные реалии описываемой эпохи.
Сестры Элинор и Марианна очень разные: одна не забывает быть рассудительной, вторая отдает себя во власть эмоций. Но они обе стремятся к счастью и любви. Что у них получится?
Книга предназначена для тех, кто изучает английский язык на продолжающем или продвинутом уровне и стремится к его совершенствованию.
Роман «Маленькая хозяйка Большого дома», увидевший свет в последний год жизни Д. Лондона, посвящен взаимоотношениям неординарных персонажей и является лучшим произведением писателя по силе и глубине показа тех неистовых бурь, которые вызывает в душах людей любовь.
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Джек Лондон (1876–1916) – американский писатель и журналист. Он написал немалое количество приключенческих рассказов, повестей и романов, многие из которых входят в учебную программу школ и университетов.
В эту книгу вошли повести «Белый Клык», «Зов предков» и рассказ «Смок Беллью».
Первая история расскажет читателю о собаке-волке, выросшему на свободе в Северной глуши и подчинившегося человеку. Собака-волк познает дружбу и жестокость, отвагу и преданность. Преодолев все трудности, он наконец-таки найдет свое место в этом мире.
Вторая повесть «Зов предков» – о псе Бэке, который, столкнувшись с человеческой жестокостью, ушел в стаю к волкам и стал их вожаком.
Рассказ «Смок Беллью» поведует о временах знаменитой «золотой лихорадки» в Клондайке. Главный герой, практически сбежавший со своей работы на золотые прииски, очень скоро понимает, как трудна и сурова жизнь золотоискателя. Но герой не пожалел о своем опрометчивом решении, ведь там он нашел друга, пережил невероятные приключения и встретил любовь.
Прои…
«Иосиф и его братья» – масштабная тетралогия, над которой Томас Манн трудился с 1926 по 1942 год и которую сам считал наиболее значимым своим произведением.
Сюжет библейского сказания об Иосифе Прекрасном автор поместил в исторический контекст периода правления Аменхотепа III и его сына, «фараона-еретика» Эхнатона, с тем чтобы рассказать легенду более подробно и ярко, создав на ее основе увлекательную историческую сагу.
В книгу включены не только легендарная повесть-притча Оруэлла «Скотный Двор», но и эссе разных лет – «Литература и тоталитаризм», «Писатели и Левиафан», «Заметки о национализме» и другие.
Что привлекает читателя в художественной и публицистической прозе этого запретного в тоталитарных странах автора?
В первую очередь – острейшие проблемы политической и культурной жизни 40-х годов XX века, которые и сегодня продолжают оставаться актуальными. А также объективность в оценке событий и яркая авторская индивидуальность, помноженные на истинное литературное мастерство.
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Глазами клоуна (1963)
Действие впервые опубликованного в 1963 году романа Бёлля, который критики называли «немецким „Над пропастью во ржи“, происходит в течение всего лишь одного дня жизни Ганса, но этот день, в котором события настоящего перемешаны с воспоминаниями о прошлом, подводит итоги не только жизни самого печального клоуна, но и судьбы всей Германии – на первый взгляд счастливой и процветающей, а в действительности глубоко переживающей драму причастности к побежденному, но еще не забытому „обыкновенному фашизму“.
Бильярд в половине десятого (1959)
Архитектору Генриху Фемелю исполняется восемьдесят лет. Юбилей – хороший повод для того, чтобы подвести итоги прожитой жизни. Его победа – победа безызвестного чужака в конкурсе на возведение аббатства Святого Антония – сулила полную и счастливую жизнь… А в итоге – обманутые ожидания…
Жена Генриха содержится в привилегированной лечебнице для душевнобольных, младший сын Отто, еще в юности перешедший на сторону палачей, готовых утопить мир в крови, стал …
В сборнике «Эшенден, или Британский агент» Сомерсет Моэм выступает в роли автора политических детективных историй, в основу которых лег личный опыт «тайной службы его величеству». Первая мировая война. На фронтах гибнут тысячи солдат. А далеко в тылу идет другая война – тайное, необъявленное противостояние европейских разведок. Здесь поджидает не меньшая опасность, а игра со смертью гораздо тоньше и изощреннее. Ведь основное оружие секретного агента – его ум и скорость реакции…
Этюды «На китайской ширме» – пестрый калейдоскоп увлекательных историй о жизни на Востоке. В этих остроумных заметках раскрывается вся глубина загадочной китайской цивилизации: здесь найдется место и затерянным местам на великой реке Янцзы, и необычной колоритной культуре, и тонкому ориентальному менталитету.
Маленький роман, который навеки изменил лицо современной нонконформистской прозы. Роман, который открыл миру страшную тему наркозависимости – и тем самым открыл путь в литературу для Хантера Томпсона, Ирвина Уэлша и многих других мастеров, для которых эта больная тема стала ключевой в творчестве.
Странная, безжалостная и гениальная книга, в которой мир реальности причудливо и изощренно сочетается с миром фантазий и галлюцинаций.
Блистательно написанный «путеводитель по аду», который заставил бы содрогнуться в ужасе самого Данте, – ведь ад от Берроуза есть не вымысел, а реальность.
Книга содержит нецензурную брань
Данная книга представляет собой сборник самых знаменитых произведений английской классической литературы. В него вошли самые известные романы сестер Бронте: «Джейн Эйр» и «Грозовой перевал», на которых выросло не одно поколение читателей по всему миру.
Тексты адаптированы для продолжающих изучение английского языка (Уровень 3) и сопровождаются комментариями и словарем.
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История американской и мировой литературы невозможна без упоминания имени Фрэнсиса Скотта Фицджеральда; его произведения признаны мировой классикой. В романах автора нашел свое отражение так называемый ≪век джаза≫ – период в истории Америки с момента окончания Первой мировой войны и до начала Великой депрессии 30-х годов. В данную книгу вошли два произведения Фицджеральда: ≪Загадочная история Бенджамина Баттона≫ и ≪Хрустальная чаша≫.
Текст произведений сокращен и незначительно адаптирован для уровня 4 (для продолжающих учить английский язык верхней ступени), снабжен комментариями и словарем.
Валер’ян Підмогильний (1901–1937) тонко та глибоко відчував контрасти довкола й доносив їх до читача. Проблема одвічності та незалежності від волі людини життя на землі глибоко трактується в оповіданні «В епідемічному бараці». Теми голоду 1921–1923 років письменник торкається у творі, – який вважав одним зі своїх найкращих, – «Син». Герої Підмогильного занурені в «межову ситуацію» або наближені до неї, перебувають у складних суспільних обставинах. Митець зважає на психологічні аспекти людського буття, занурюється в підсвідомі стимули вчинків своїх персонажів.
"This is a personal matter. Someone killed my brother. I don't like that. If the police can't take care of it, then I'll bury my own dead."Nick English meant every word, but his efforts to find his brother's killer started a chain reaction of murder and violence that would nearly end his own life.Here is a story of organized blackmail punctuated by sudden and gruesome murder. Written with the punch and speed of a rivet gun, I'll Bury My Dead confirms James Hadley Chase's reputation as a leading writer of all-action, edge-of-your-seat thrillers that demand to be read in a single sitting.
When Sean Spencer lost the ability to speak as the result of a terrible accident, his father vowed to do anything to bring him back. Anything. Top of the list was to bring the best speech therapist money could buy to live in his sprawling mansion.Gavin thought that would be the easy part. But he hadn't met M.J. Taylor.She was a woman who had also dealt with tragedy–only her solution was to stop doing what she was born to do: work with young kids. And she thought nothing could change her mind–until Gavin Spencer forced his way into her life.
Предлагаем вашему вниманию аудиокнигу «В Шумавских горах» («Pohorska vesnice», 1856) – роман классика чешской литературы, родоначальницы современной чешской прозы Божены Немцовой (Božena Němcová, 1820–1861), хорошо известной своими сказками, часть из которых экранизирована («Три орешка для Золушки», «Семь воронов»).
В этот роман писательница вложила весь свой жизненный опыт, все знания о народе, особенно о хо́дах и словаках, гордилась им и считала своим главным произведением. Это так называемый «проблемный» роман: история благородного графа Гануша Брезенского и его словацких друзей служит иллюстрацией идеи социальной справедливости, близости чехов и словаков, народного просвещения. Автор верит в добрый стержень человеческой природы и в возможность мирного разрешения общественных конфликтов.
Youth is the third in Tolstoy's trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including Childhood and Boyhood, published in a literary journal during the 1850s
Youth is the third in Tolstoy's trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including Childhood and Boyhood, published in a literary journal during the 1850s
"The Resident Patient", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle ranked «The Adventure of the Resident Patient» eighteenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.
Doctor Percy Trevelyan brings Holmes an unusual problem. Having been a brilliant student but a poor man, Dr. Trevelyan has found himself a participant in an unusual business arrangement. A man named Blessington, claiming to have some money to invest, has set Trevelyan up in premises with a prestigious address and paid all his expenses. In return, he demands three-fourths of all the money that the doctor's practice earns, which he collects every evening, going over the books thoroughly and leaving the doctor 5/3d of every guinea (21 shillings or £1 1/– in pre-decimalized currency) from the day's takings. Blessington is himself infirm, it turns out, and likes this arrangement because he can …
"The Pose Novel" by H. G. Wells is a short essay. H. G. Wells once different, humorous social satire and ironic.
I watched the little spurts of flame jet out from between the writhing pages of my manuscript, watched the sheets coil up in their fiery anguish and start one from another.
Більшість творів, написаних Франком для дітей, становлять казки.
Письменник часто використовував у них сюжети, взяті з народної творчості різних країн світу. Франка особливо цікавила в казках їх моральна спрямованість, ідейний зміст, співзвучність з тими проблемами й справами, якими жило тоді суспільство.
Використані Франком сюжети набирали глибоко актуального значення, відзначалися яскравим національним колоритом, набували виразної виховної спрямованості.
Франко надавав казковому жанру особливого значення у вихованні дитини. Франка особливо цікавила в казках їх моральна спрямованість, ідейний зміст, співзвучність з тими проблемами й справами, якими жило тоді суспільство.
Іван Франко вважав, що спочатку доцільно знайомити дітей з людськими взаєминами саме через казкові форми, бо гола правда життя може бути болючою для них.
A Study in Scarlet is an 1887 detective novel by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his «study in scarlet»: "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.
The Advanced Lady is a short story by Katherine Mansfield: «Do you think we might ask her to come with us,» said Fräulein Elsa, retying her pink sash ribbon before my mirror. «You know, although she is so intellectual, I cannot help feeling convinced that she has some secret sorrow. And Lisa told me this morning, as she was turning out my room, that she remains hours and hours by herself, writing; in fact Lisa says she is writing a book! I suppose that is why she never cares to mingle with us, and has so little time for her husband and the child.»
In a German Pension is a 1911 collection of short stories by the writer Katherine Mansfield; her first published collection. All but three of the stories were originally published in The New Age edited by A. R. Orage; the first to appear was «The Child-Who-Was-Tired». The last three were first published in this collection.
The stories were written after her stay in Bad Wörishofen, a German spa town in 1909, where she was taken by her mother after her disastrous marriage, pregnancy and miscarriage. Some reflect the coarse habits and arrogance of Germans, and some refer to the exploitation and repression of women by men.
"The Book of Curses" by H. G. Wells is a short essay. H. G. Wells once different, humorous social satire and ironic.
Professor Gargoyle, you must understand, has travelled to and fro in the earth, culling flowers of speech: a kind of recording angel he is, but without any sentimental tears. To be plain, he studies swearing.
The Piazza published by Herman Melville in 1856. The sketch describes Melville's farmhouse, called Arrowhead, in Pittsfield, Mass. Supposedly, the other tales in the collection, including «Bartleby the Scrivener» and «Benito Cereno,» were narrated on the piazza of the farmhouse.
"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (1926), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It is notable for being narrated by Holmes himself, instead of by Dr. Watson (who does not appear in the story). Holmes is enjoying his retirement in Sussex when one day at the beach, he meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster of a nearby preparatory school called The Gables. No sooner have they met than Stackhurst's science teacher, Fitzroy McPherson, staggers up to them, clearly in agony and wearing only an overcoat and trousers. He collapses, manages to say something about a «lion's mane», and then succumbs. He is observed to have red welts all over his back, possibly administered by a flexible weapon of some kind, for the marks curve over his shoulder and round his ribs.
"Of a Book Unwritten" by H. G. Wells is a short essay. H. G. Wells once different, humorous social satire and ironic.
Accomplished literature is all very well in its way, no doubt, but much more fascinating to the contemplative man are the books that have not been written. These latter are no trouble to hold; there are no pages to turn over.
The Iliad is one of the two great epics of Homer, and is typically described as one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to say the Iliad is a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy.
"Walking Tours" written by Robert Louis Stevenson: It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory.
"Walking Tours" written by Robert Louis Stevenson: It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory.
"Walking Tours" written by Robert Louis Stevenson: It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory.
"Walking Tours" written by Robert Louis Stevenson: It must not be imagined that a walking tour, as some would have us fancy, is merely a better or worse way of seeing the country. There are many ways of seeing landscape quite as good; and none more vivid, in spite of canting dilettantes, than from a railway train. But landscape on a walking tour is quite accessory.
"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnam's Magazine.
Окончание радиоспектакля по мотивам одноименной повести, в которой автор делится своими воспоминаниями о детстве. Исполнители: От автора (Жером взрослый) - Броневой Леонид; Жером (мальчик) - Корабельникова Маргарита; Матушка - Толмачева Лилия; Отец - Пузырев Юрий; Тетя Валери - Дмитриева Антонина; Мадемуазель Фольен - Литвинова Наталья
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, the consulting detective's notoriety as the arch-despoiler of the schemes concocted by the criminal underworld at last gets the better of him.
Though Holmes and his faithful sidekick Dr Watson solve what will become some of their most bizarre and extraordinary cases – the disappearance of the race horse Silver Blaze, the horrific circumstances of the Greek Interpreter and the curious mystery of the Musgrave Ritual among them – a criminal mastermind is plotting the downfall of the great detective.
"The Oval Portrait" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a portrait in a chateau. It is one of his shortest stories, filling only two pages in its initial publication in 1842.
Plot summary:
The tale begins with an injured narrator (the story offers no further explanation of his or her impairment) seeking refuge in an abandoned mansion in the Apennines. The narrator spends his or her time admiring the paintings that decorate the strangely shaped room and perusing a volume, found upon a pillow, that describes them.
Upon moving the candle closer to the book, the narrator immediately discovers a before-unnoticed painting depicting the head and shoulders of a young girl. The picture inexplicably enthralls the narrator «for an hour perhaps». After steady reflection, he or she realizes that the painting's "absolute life-likeliness' of expression is the captivating feature. The narrator eagerly consults the book for an explanation of the picture. Th…
Шик и лоск высшего общества, дамы в бриллиантах, галантные джентльмены… Бекки Шарп знает, чего хочет, но сироте без наследства придется пройти через многое, чтобы пробиться в люди.
«Ярмарка тщеславия» – это роман-скандал, ставший вершиной творчества английского писателя и журналиста Уильяма Мейкписа Теккерея. Теперь у вас есть возможность в новом формате познакомиться с содержанием произведения, глубже понять мотивы героев и основные темы романа. Об этом и многом другом – в нашем обзоре. Взгляните на шедевр английской литературы под новым углом.
Текст обзора не является заменой оригинального произведения. Редакция рекомендует книгу Уильяма М. Теккерея «Ярмарка тщеславия» к прочтению.
His ready-made family… Thanks to a medical mistake – and thanks to a blue-eyed beauty named Rachel Reilly – Jack Sawyer now had a son. He knew he had no right to play daddy, but he was determined to make sure this woman was a loving parent. Rachel was unaware that Jack was the biological father of her baby. She only knew that her reaction to the strikingly handsome man was unfamiliar…and undeniable.But what would she do when she learned that the attraction wasn’t the half of what had brought them together? Baby Daze Because a baby changes everything!
"The Adventure of the Dancing Men", a Sherlock Holmes story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle published as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle ranked «The Adventure of the Dancing Men» third in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. This is one of only two Sherlock Holmes short stories where Holmes' client dies after seeking his help. The other is «The Five Orange Pips», part of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story begins when Hilton Cubitt of Ridling Thorpe Manor in Norfolk visits Sherlock Holmes and gives him a piece of paper with the following mysterious sequence of stick figures.
"The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is contacted by Miss Violet Smith of Farnham, Surrey about an unusual turn in her and her mother's lives. Violet's father has recently died and left his wife and daughter rather poor. There was an ad in the news asking about their whereabouts. Answering it, they met Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Woodley, the former a pleasant enough man, but the latter a bully.
From housekeeper to bride! When sexy Brad Logan hires Sarah Brownly he doesn’t expect his once quiet home to be filled with a rabble of kids and a housekeeper he can’t keep his eyes off… With Brad as her boss, Sarah’s never felt more secure. But she’s running – running from her past. How can she ask this gorgeous bachelor to take on her troubles and her unruly brood?The woman Brad’s falling for comes with an instant family – but his shoulders are broad. He’ll take on this little family and make them his own…
"The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the tenth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in April 1892. The story entails the disappearance of Hatty, Lord St. Simon's bride on the day of their marriage. She participates in the wedding, but disappears from the reception.
"The Writing of Essays" by H. G. Wells is a short essay. H. G. Wells once different, humorous social satire and ironic.
The art of the essayist is so simple, so entirely free from canons of criticism, and withal so delightful, that one must needs wonder why all men are not essayists. Perhaps people do not know how easy it is.
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles" is a British fantasy-comedy short story by H. G. Wells first published in 1898 in The Illustrated London News. It carried the subtitle «A Pantoum in Prose.»
The story is an early example of Contemporary fantasy (not yet recognized, at the time, as a specific sub-genre). In common with later works falling within this definition, the story places a major fantasy premise (a wizard with enormous, virtually unlimited magic power) not in an exotic semi-Medieval setting but in the drab routine daily life of suburban London, very familiar to Wells himself.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame or Notre-Dame de Paris is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831.
The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. The gypsy Esmeralda (born as Agnes) captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda. Gringoire, who attempted to help Esmeralda but was knocked out by Quasimodo, is about to be hanged by beggars when Esmeralda saves him by agreeing to marry him for four years.