Зарубежная классика — John Brown

In 1902, self-taught British philosopher and author James Allen published this inspirational essay based on the Bible verse “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” This slender volume (only 68 pages) has been a popular classic ever since. Allen preached the importance of people taking responsibility for themselves and their actions as well as using determination to improve the mind. The most frequently quoted lines from the book include: «Men do not attract what they want, but what they...

'The Meditations' is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, in 12 short chapters called 'books'. It was written in the 70s of the II century AD, mostly during the Emperor's campaigns in Central Europe, at the north-east border of the Roman Empire and in Sirmium. In essence, it is a rethink of the philosophy of Epictetus, often quoted in the book: it is useless to attempt to change the world to suit one's needs, one should accept calmly and...

The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) is a short 1848 book written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League's purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and present) and the problems...

New translation of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Poor Gregor Samsa! This guy wakes up one morning to discover that he's become a «monstrous vermin». The first pages of The Metamorphosis where Gregor tries to communicate through the bedroom door with his family, who think he’s merely being lazy, is vintage screwball comedy. Indeed, scholars and readers alike have delighted in Kafka’s gallows humor and matter-of-fact handling of the absurd and the terrifying. But it is one of the most...

The Divine Comedy Inferno by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed in 1320, that gives the widest synthesis of medieval culture and world ontology. Dante's Inferno a real medieval encyclopedia of scientific, political, philosophical, moral and religious knowledges. It is considered to be the preeminent work in Italian and world literature. The Divine Comedy is a result work of the whole second part of Dante’s life; it is his last and most mature creation. The poet’s view of the world is...