LETTURE IN LINGUA

A middle-aged woman running away from her dull reality by pretending to be someone else, a man whose married life has taken a path that he can no longer ignore, and two little girls pushed in a corner by a self-righteous neighbourhood; with these stories Mrs Mansfield unfolds the human mind and gives us an understanding of the twisted ways it reaches out for meaning and fulfillment; she does so through a peculiar style of writing which by skillfully interweaving narrator's understatements and character's epiphanies deeply involves the reader and calls on them to reflect on the questions at stake.

The universality of the topics and issues tackled here enables Mrs Manfield’s work to talk to the generations of today, thus enhancing its purpose and value.

This is the story of Bassanio who is desperately in need of money to court Portia, a wealthy heiress who lives in the city of Belmont. Bassanio asks his friend Antonio, a Venetian merchant for a loan Antonio at the moment has all his money invested and he is forced to borrow from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock gives him the money but if Antonio doesn’t repay in the fixed date, he demands a pound of the merchant’s flesh.

The text is complete in its original version and has several simple, clear notes together with a rich historical context. All the activities aim to offer students a practical critical approach by capturing the distinctive qualities of the play.

H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine is the story of the Time Traveller who sets out on an astonishing journey into the future with his Time Machine. This extraordinary machine takes him to a world where society has been divided into two classes: the aristocratic, child-like Eloi and the menacing, nocturnal Morlocks who live underground and are the industrial workers in the year 802,701. The social divide is much worse in Wells’s shocking futuristic vision of society. However, despite Wells’s pessimistic view, The Time Machine remains an entertaining and exciting adventure and a brilliant critique of his own society.

The volume includes a timeline of the historical background of H.G. Wells’s age; a full biographical introduction about the author; twelve sections with comprehension activities and CAE-style tests for C1 level; accurate footnotes; critical opinions and selectedpassages included in the audio.

Jack and Gwendolen are in love, but Gwendolen knows him only as Ernest – his name being the reason she loves him. In reality, Jack is leading a double life, becoming Ernest when he wishes to escape the responsibilities of his life in the country. On the pretext of rescuing an imaginary brother called Ernest, he flees to London, where he seeks the pleasures of the city and courts his beloved Gwendolen. When her imperious mother, Lady Bracknell, dashes the lovers’ hopes of marriage, the pair devise a plan to meet secretly. Meanwhile Algernon (Gwendolen’s cousin and Jack’s good friend), who also has a perfect excuse for disappearing whenever he needs to, becomes interested in Jack’s pretty ward Cecily – who is in love with Jack’s imaginary brother, Ernest.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s last and most brilliant play, portrays the English upper class with sharp observation and dazzling wit.

This volume includes an extensive introduction, a biography, notes to the text, activities for comprehension and analysis, an appendix on the historical context of the play. Audio recordings with extensive key dialogues can be downloaded in MP3 format.

Dubliners was James Joyce’s first endeavour to put his native city and its inhabitants onto the literary map of the world. A century after its first publication, the stories still conjure up the Dublin of Joyce’s youth, recounting critical moments in the lives of his fellow citizens in an Ireland held captive by British Rule and Irish Catholicism.

Narrated in a deceptively simple style, each story can be read independently or as part of an organic whole, offering the reader an insight into the complexity and originality of Joyce’s artistic vision. The result is a unique reading experience, which serves as an excellent introduction to the artist who would go on to astound the world with the great epic novels Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.