Classic Fiction - Satire and Social Commentary

Gulliver's Travels, first published in 1726, was an immediate success and was read 'from the Cabinet - council to the Nursery' (Gay). It continues to appeal to readers of all ages, both as a travel book and as a powerful satire. George Orwell rate...

In the delightful social comedy of Pride and Prejudice (1813) Jane Austen delicately handles the problem of love and money in marriage where, in spite of many hurdles, eventually love triumphs over 'pride' and 'prejudice'. With a mild satiric tone...

Newly married Tara struggles through the formative years of advocacy, attempting to balance her roller coaster professional and personal life. She soon discovers that material success matters, yet selfless pursuits often yield greater satisfaction...

“Let us strike the keynote, Coketown, before pursuing our tune... It was a town of machines and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever, and never got uncoiled...” — Hard Times The novel is set in the...

Man and Superman, a four-Act drama, was written in 1903 as a response to those who had questioned Shaw as to why he had never written a play based on the Don Juan theme. It deserves the position of Bernard Shaw’s masterpiece. The plot revolves aro...

The Importance of Being Earnest is a farcical comedy in three Acts. The protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligation. John Worthing, a carefree young gentleman, invents a fictitious brother, Ernest, whose wicked...

The Great Gatsby is generally considered to be the finest novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Written in an easy style, without complex literary experiment, at the height of the author’s maturity, it is now an undisputed classic of American lite...

It is a fantasy novel published in 1928. It traces the career of the androgynous Orlando through four centuries from the late sixteenth century. It contains a great many well-observed literary and historical insights into the ages through which it...

Oliver Twist, Dickens's critique of the harsh Poor Law of 1834, and a grim picture of the sordid reality the London underworld of Dickens's times, shows Dickens's deep concern for the underprivileged. The only token of identity left by his dying m...

Candide, a privileged and sheltered young man, is under the folly of optimism and believes he lives in the ‘best of all possible worlds’ as his mentor, Pangloss, espoused the worldly goodness of German Philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. But fa...

Once considered scandalizingly immoral, Flaubert’s exquisite debut novel unsparingly depicts a woman’s gradual corruption and the human mind in search of transcendence. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy local doctor, Emma fulfils her epicurea...

Northanger Abbey, written during the same period as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, represents Jane Austen's genius at its freshest and most enchanting. It grew out of her distaste for the absurdities of the novels of her time and i...

Collection of (1) Oliver Twist : The only token of identity left by Dicken's dying mother to Oliver Twist – born in the workhouse, and orphaned at birth – is stolen. Spending his early childhood in neglect and near starvation Oliver joins the work...

Volpone (or The Fox) is a comedy in five acts, performed about 1605–1606 and published in 1607, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked amo...

Heart of Darkness is the finest of all Conrad's tales, showing him at the height of his powers as a writer of great vividness, intensity, and sophistication. The story has come to be regarded as classic of the twentieth century. Its ambiguity has ...

Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a brilliant tale of seduction, love, betrayal, and murder, is generally regarded as Thomas Hardy’s finest novel. This is a tragic story of the intelligent, charming and naturally dignified Tess. Daughter of a poor villa...

The Mayor of Casterbridge displays the influence of Hardy's upbringing, rural background, and architectural studies. His characters are primitive and exhibit all the passions, hates, loves and jealousies that rustic life seems to inspire. Yet thes...

“It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves.” The Trial by Franz Kafka, first published posthumously in 1925, is a haunting exploration of bureaucracy, guilt and the oppressive nature of authority. The novel...

A Tale of a Tub, Jonathan Swift’s first major and his most masterly work. It presents a satire of religious excess. When it was written, politics and religion were so closely linked in England, that the religious and political aspects of the satir...

प्रेमचंद द्वारा रचित निर्मला उपन्यास एक पंद्रह वर्षीय लड़की जो बनारस के एक मध्यमवर्गीय परिवार से है, इस पर आधारित है। इस उपन्यास के जरिए प्रेमचंद ने समाज की नारी के प्रति सोच, दहेज प्रथाए नारी की पुरुष पर निर्भरता और अनमोल विवाह जैसे महत्वपूर्ण मुद...

Collection of (1) The Mayor of Casterbridge; The Mayor of Casterbridge displays the influence of Hardy's upbringing, rural background, and architectural studies. His characters are primitive and exhibit all the passions, hates, loves and jealousie...

"The Wild still lingered in him, and the wolf in him merely slept." White Fang, published in 1906 by Jack London, is an enthralling adventure novel set in the harsh Yukon wilderness during the Klondike Gold Rush. It follows the journey of White F...

“In the love of truth, and in the love of freedom, we shall yet be able to abolish slavery.” Set against the backdrop of slavery in the pre-Civil War United States, Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the most influential novels in American History. It is...

Joseph Andrews is Fielding's first novel, and although directed against Samuel Richardson's Pamela which was a great success, it is far from being a simple parody. To cite Fielding himself 'The fable consists of a series of separate adventures...a...