Russian and European Literature

Mary Kate Ellsworth, Hannah Kim, John Chapdelaine, Charles LeBlond

Selections from

A riveting novel that travels into the inner conscience of a criminal.

"Actions are sometimes performed in a masterly and most cunning way, while the direction of the actions is deranged and dependent on various morbid impressions-it's like a dream."

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

A chilling story about the struggles of a man at the bottom.

"He wept and made a grimace, as though he foresaw that he was to be a titular councilor."

The Overcoat

Nikolai Gogol

A wonderful story about a woman dealing with the knowledge that her husband has loved before.

“There she was: a young woman whose cleancut features expressed a profound, sorrowful soul; whose eyes expressed a sort of all-absorbing silence"

With Other Eyes

Luigi Pirandello

An inspiring story about hard work and courage.

“But the blood-stained banner did not fall to the ground"

The Signal

Vsevolod Garshin

This is a short book, but page for page one of the greatest. Everyone should read it once a year.

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”

The Death of Ivan Ilych

Leo Tolstoy

A captivating story about the power of love, struggle of war, and the passion of poetry

"There are two kinds of men and only two. And that young man is one kind. He is high-minded. He is pure"

Dr. Zhivago

Boris Pasternak

A story about grief, violence, and the study of existentialism

"Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why."

The Stranger

Leo Tolstoy

An eye opening play about life after death. You wont be able to put it down

“Do you think ... they haven't foreknown every word you say? And of course there's a whole nest of pitfalls that we can't see. Everything here's a booby-trap.”

No Exit

Jean Paul Sartre