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Hippolytus
(Ἱππολυτος) Euripides 429 BC (Disaster ensues when Phaedra falls for her stepson!) The gods will have their play, and we piteous humans must suffer in double jeopardy. First, vice will eventually bring destruction, and yet we are by nature weak and prone to vice. Second, everyone is subject to fate, which is not kinder to […]
The History of Mr. Polly
H. G. Wells 1910 (A man of precisely 37.5 years of age can’t seem to find success or happiness in life… perhaps he has to do something drastic.) “HOLE!” said Mr. Polly, and then for a change, and with greatly increased emphasis: “ ‘Ole!” He paused, and then broke out with one of his private and […]
“The Judgment”
(“Das Urteil”) Franz Kafka 1912 (After treating a needy friend superficially for years, Georg finally pays the price.) This is an existentialist horror tale about a man Georg who treats a distant friend superficially, then pays for this crime with his life. The distant friend is sick, poor and unmarried. Georg cannot think of what […]
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
(Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut) Joseph Bédier 1900 (A knight and a lady pursue their magical love through bloodshed and sorrow.) When tales pass through centuries of retellings, they tend to become what of audio media we would call “overproduced”: too many interpreters have slanted the story their various ways, too many embellishments and […]
