Fantasy

Henrik Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt in the summer of 1867 as he traveled through Italy. One of Ibsen’s earliest plays, the work is based on the fairy tale Per Gynt and reflects the influence of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s Norwegian Folktales, which had just been published, as well as elements from his own family and biography. Ibsen would eventually come to be known as the Father of Realism through his more famous works, such as A... Read Peer Gynt Summary

Perelandra is the second installment in author C.S. Lewis's science fiction Space Trilogy series. The 1943 novel is preceded by Out of the Silent Planet (1938) and succeeded by That Hideous Strength (1945). Plot SummaryLewis is summoned by philologist Elwin Ransom to his home in the English country. There, Lewis recounts the events of Ransom’s journey to Malacandra and becomes fearful of this visit. Along the way, he realizes he forgot his bag on the train. As he approaches... Read Perelandra Summary

Pet Sematary is a 1983 novel by Stephen King. It was adapted into a film in 1989 and a second film adaptation is scheduled to be released in April 2019. The book takes place in semi-rural Ludlow, Maine, a small town that Chicago doctor, Louis Creed, has just moved to with his family. Dr. Creed has taken a job at the university and moved his family against the wishes of his wife’s parents, with whom... Read Pet Sematary Summary

Philoctetes is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, which was first performed in ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War in 409 BC. It was performed at the ancient Greek festival of City Dionysia, where it was awarded first prize. Philoctetes takes place during the final year of the Trojan War and explores themes of friendship, trauma, deception versus morality, fate, and the individual versus the collective. This study guide uses the translation of Sophocles’ play... Read Philoctetes Summary

Originally published in 1952, Player Piano is Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel. Set in a dystopian future where humanity has given control of almost all of its decisions and jobs to machines, Player Piano details the struggles and ironies of humanity’s attempt at a reclamation of human purposefulness.Doctor Paul Proteus serves as the head of the Ilium plant—one of many such plants across the United States that have popped up after the Third World War. Everything... Read Player Piano Summary

The Popol Vuh is a cultural narrative of the Quiché people that blends folklore, mythology, and historical accounts. The contents of the Popol Vuh have been relayed through oral tradition for many years, and its written form has suffered many losses following Spanish colonization of Latin America. Spanish colonizers destroyed nearly all Quiché texts and codices, including the Popol Vuh. Thus, the earliest known version of the Popol Vuh that exists is a Spanish translation... Read Popol Vuh Summary

Prince of Thorns is the first book in the Broken Empire trilogy of fantasy novels by American-British author Mark Lawrence. It was published in 2011, followed by King of Thorns (2012) and Emperor of Thorns (2013).Plot SummaryPrince of Thorns is a bloody story of betrayal and revenge set on a postapocalyptic Earth where feudalism has returned and the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead are weak. The book’s protagonist, Prince Honorous... Read Prince of Thorns Summary

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“Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844) is a Gothic short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) first published in The United States Magazines and Democratic Review. In 1846, it was republished in a collection of stories and sketches, Mosses from an Old Manse. Hawthorne was a leader of the Dark Romantic or Gothic movement in American literature. His close friends included fellow Massachusetts writers Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson.The work is prefaced by Hawthorne, who claims to... Read Rappaccini's Daughter Summary

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline’s love-letter to all things 1980s pop culture, was published in 2011. A mix of adventure, dystopian fiction, coming-of-age story, and heroic epic, the novel is packed with references to 80s media and heroic literature, including allusions to the Arthurian legend of the quest for the Holy Grail. In 2018, Ready Player One was adapted into a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. Plot Summary James Halliday, creator of an immense virtual... Read Ready Player One Summary

In 2018, Barry Sutton, a detective with the NYPD, witnesses the suicide of Ann Voss Peters, who has FMS—a mysterious ailment in which victims gain alternate memories. Barry has lunch with his ex-wife, Julia, on what would have been their late daughter Meghan’s 26th birthday. While investigating Ann’s false memories, Barry is enticed to the strange Hotel Memory, where business magnate Marcus Slade captures him and forcibly sends him back to the day Meghan died... Read Recursion Summary

Reservation Blues tells the story of Coyote Springs, a Spokane Indian rock band. The band is founded on a reservation, slowly gathers fans, and begins to play shows. Coyote Springs is given the chance to audition for a major record company in New York City, but, ultimately, the band does not succeed. The book combines traditional narrative with a mixture of other narrative techniques, including newspaper articles, song lyrics, interviews, and excerpts from journals. Together... Read Reservation Blues Summary

Riddley Walker (1980) is a dystopian science fiction novel by Russell Hoban. The novel is famous for its use of a phonetic, idiosyncratic version of English, spoken by the characters who live in a post-apocalyptic society. Riddley Walker won numerous awards, including the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1981.Plot SummaryA young boy named Riddley Walker lives in Inland, the name given to the south of England 2,000 years after a nuclear war sent human... Read Riddley Walker Summary

After failing to establish a career as a lawyer, Washington Irving (1783-1859) turned to writing. Distancing himself from British literature, Irving sought to create a wholly American folktale for American readers, sprinkled with American geography, mores, and folklore. His first attempt, “Rip Van Winkle,” is one of the earliest examples of the short story in Western literature. Published in 1819 in Irving’s short story collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (which also features... Read Rip Van Winkle Summary

Roadside Picnic (1972) is a science-fiction novel by the Soviet-Russian authors Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky. Upon the release of its first English translation in 1977, Roadside Picnic earned runner-up for the John W. Campbell Award honoring the best science-fiction novel of the year. Over the years, the book’s storyline and concepts have been a source of inspiration across a wide range of media—most famously, the 1979 film Stalker. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and written... Read Roadside Picnic Summary

Rosemary’s Baby is a Gothic horror novel by American writer Ira Levin. Published in 1967, it was a bestseller that was adapted into a critically acclaimed 1968 film starring Mia Farrow and directed by her husband, Roman Polanski. The novel is known for its focus on themes like women’s liberation and reproductive freedom, urban paranoia and fears of surveillance, and the relationship between conservative Christianity and the occult in the 20th century. Critics have also... Read Rosemary's Baby Summary

First published in 1998, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium is the first book in The Sarantine Mosaic duology. The setting of the novel, based on the Mediterranean world in the sixth century, alludes to the future conflict between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy that had replaced the Western Roman Empire. Kay’s work incorporates magical realism, political intrigue, religious themes, existential crises, and detailed, historically accurate descriptions of art and... Read Sailing to Sarantium Summary

’Salem’s Lot (1975) is the second published novel by Stephen King, his first being Carrie (1974). The book won the Locus Award for best fantasy and was adapted as a television miniseries in 1979 and 2004. It also inspired a movie sequel, A Return to Salem’s Lot.King wrote ’Salem’s Lot after being inspired when teaching the novel Dracula in a college course. Originally titled Second Coming, ’Salem’s Lot places a similar tale in a rural... Read 'Salem's Lot Summary

Seven Against Thebes is a tragedy composed by Aeschylus and performed for the first time at the City Dionysia festival in 467 BCE. It was the final play of a connected trilogy based on the myths of Oedipus and his family, but the first two plays—Laius and Oedipus—are now lost, as is the satyr play Sphinx that would have been performed following the trilogy. This set of plays won first prize the year it was... Read Seven Against Thebes Summary