Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) was a German poet and author of prose.

Zola tells the story of a terrific landslide which overwhelmed the French Second Empire--a story of war, grim and terrible; of a struggle to the death between two great nations. "The Downfall" has been described as "a prose epic of modern war."

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was an English writer best remembered today for his science fiction works. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction." --- He has foretold many futures for us, some utterly abhorrent, others more or less attractive.

An honest sturdy young officer and a decent pretty girl get to know each other on an excursion. Unconsciously they drift into a relation where heart meets heart, the breaking of which causes the deepest pain. But both see clearly from the beginning that there is no other end. For they know that the world is stronger than the individual, and the many small moments than the one supreme. They know it, for they are, like their creator, resigned realists. They shut their eyes only in order not to see the end too near.--The gentle melancholy of two people coming together in a way which can never...

Historical prose translation of the famous Polish verse epic. In the book, Tadeusz tells the story of two feuding noble families; it takes place in a fictional idyllic village, in 1811 and 1812, after the division of Poland-Lithuania between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. --- "No European nation of our day has such an epic as Pan Tadeusz. In it Don Quixote has been fused with the Iliad. ... Pan Tadeusz is a true epic. No more can be said or need be said." (Zygmunt Krasinski) --- "No play of Shakespeare, no long poem of Milton or Wordsworth or Tennyson, is so well known or so well beloved by...

"Colas Breugnon" is a charming romance of life in Burgundy three hundred years ago. It is an "autobiographical" novel, the story being told in the first person by Colas, who reviews his fifty years of life, and describes all its joys and sorrows. The story is gay and humorous, and full of wise observations about life. Colas Breugnon is the jovial Burgundian, the lusty wood-carver, the practical joker always fond of his glass. Before everything, Colas is a free man. He loves his king, but only so long as the king leaves him his liberty; he loves his wife, but follows his own bent; he is on...