Am Weihnachtsabend naht im Haus des Medizinalrats Stahlbaum die Bescherung. Für die Kinder hat ihr Pate Droßelmeier wie jedes Jahr hübsches mechanisches Spielzeug im Gepäck, doch die kleine Marie spielt bis tief in die Nacht hinein lieber mit einem ganz und gar nicht hübschen Nussknacker. Als um Mitternacht plötzlich die Schar der Spielzeuge lebendig wird und sich unter dem Befehl des...

Critique of Pure Reason (1781) by Immanuel Kant is a foundational text in modern philosophy that investigates the limits and scope of human reason, aiming to reconcile rationalism and empiricism. Kant argues that while knowledge begins with experience, it is structured by innate concepts (like space, time, and causality) that the mind imposes on the world, meaning objects must conform to our...

The Prophet Almustafa, having lived for twelve years in the alien city of Orphalese, is preparing to return home. Along the way, he is stopped by a group of locals, who are interested in the prophet's views on love and death, freedom and power, good and evil. Almustafa's laconic yet comprehensive reflections are presented in the form of parables. They not only provide answers to the...

A very unusual collection. A very unusual Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky is not only (and not so much) tragic, but also ironic, funny, touching, and even sentimental. Dostoevsky of the ‘small form’ is a master of topical plots, comic situations, and witty dialogue.

Famous for his enormously influential poetry and plays, Alexander Pushkin is also beloved for his short stories. This collection showcases his tremendous range, which enabled him to portray the Russian people through romance, drama, and satire. The sparkling humor of the five ‘Tales of Belkin’ contrasts with Pushkin's dark fable of gambling and obsessive greed in ‘The Queen of Spades’ and his...

The Queen of Spades; The Tales of Belkin; Peter the Great's Blackamoor; The Captain's Daughter.

Ostap Bender, the ‘grand strategist,’ is a con man on the make in the Soviet Union during the New Economic Policy (NEP) period. He's obsessed with getting one last big score?a few hundred thousand will do, and heading for Rio de Janeiro, where there are ‘a million and a half people, all of them wearing white pants, without exception.’ When Bender hears the story of Alexandr Koreiko, an...

The book ‘Masquerade’ is a collection of selected prose by Olga Petrivna Dragomanova-Kosach, an outstanding Ukrainian writer who most often appeared under the pseudonym Olena Pchilka. In the national cultural space, she did a lot not only as an author, but also as a public figure, ethnographer, translator, publisher and patron of the arts. Olena Pchilka's multifaceted creative nature is...

The book ‘Eight Days from the Life of Lulya’ is a collection of prose by Oleksandr Konysky, an outstanding Ukrainian writer, poet, public figure, and spiritual educator. The works carefully depict a social portrait of the diverse intelligentsia of the late 19th century, through which the author penetrates the essence of human nature. His prose is distinguished by subtle psychologism, poetic...

The book ‘On the Island’ is a collection of modernist prose by Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky. The famous author of Ukrainian classical literature had a gift: he saw the most secret corners of the human soul. The writer could delve into the consciousness of an individual, revealing their true motives, fears, and emotions. This is what helped him create unique, rather contradictory...

Maik Iohansen is the most playful writer of Ukrainian literature. This book invites you into the world he created - cheerful, witty, incredibly imaginative and bright. This collection of ironic prose contains fifteen of his texts, in which he tried humor in different ways: in satire, feuilleton, humorous stories, short stories and even in a novel. The author will make you laugh, take you...