Aging and unattractive, the widowed Pastor Gregorius seems to have been granted a second chance at happiness when Helga, the young girl he has been fascinated by since her childhood, accepts his offer of marriage. Yet before long, the relationship turns sour and brutal and Gregorius suspects that his wife's distaste for him has driven her into infidelity. To Gregorius, fretful about his failing health and brooding upon mortality, the emptiness of his marriage is the final, bitter proof that he is unlovable, except in the eyes of God. And then an unexpected encounter with a woman who is able to return his affection makes it seem as though another kind of life might be possible.

A masterpiece of enduring power, Doctor Glas confronts a chilling moral quandary with gripping intensity. With an introduction by Margaret Atwood. Stark, brooding, and enormously controversial when first published in 1905, this astonishing novel juxtaposes impressions of fin-de-siècle Stockholm against the psychological landscape of a man besieged by obsession. Lonely and introspective, Doctor Glas has long felt an instinctive hostility toward the odious local minister. So when the minister’s beautiful wife complains of her husband’s oppressive sexual attentions, Doctor Glas finds himself contemplating murder. "Imagine the classic nineteenth-century drama featuring a tyrannical older man, his hapless daughter or young wife, and her caddish suitor, as in Balzac's Eugénie Grandet and Henry James's Washington Square, this time conjured up by a sensibility akin to Strindberg's and Ingmar Bergman's—and you begin to have an idea of the force and candor of this searing masterwork of Nothern European literature. The retrieval of Doctor Glas in English is a bracing gift to hungry readers." —Susan Sontag

Originally published in 1955, this rendering in rhyming couplets was the first English translation to appear of the medieval Oedipus legend of Gregorius, made known to readers by Thomas Mann in his novel The Holy Sinner (1951). The introduction situates Hartmann's poem in the pantheon of Gregorius legends by writers from Sophocles to Mann.

In the tradition of celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell. The recipient of extraordinary acclaim from critics and the bookselling community, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton-the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families-feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities. He at last discovers a sense of belonging in his unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip proudly shows his new friend around his adored island, and in return Endo teaches him about Japanese language and culture and trains him in the art and discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. When the Japanese savagely invade Malaya, Philip realizes that his mentor and sensei-to whom he owes absolute loyalty-is a Japanese spy. Young Philip has been an unwitting traitor, and must now work in secret to save as many lives as possible, even as his own family is brought to its knees.

The bestselling novel of love and sacrifice under fascist rule, and “a treat for the mind. One of the best books I have read in a long time” (Isabel Allende). Raimund Gregorius, a professor of dead languages at a Swiss secondary school, lives a life governed by routine. Then, an enigmatic Portuguese woman stirs his interest in an obscure, and mind-expanding book of philosophy that opens the possibility of changing Raimund’s existence. That same night, he takes the train to Lisbon to research the book’s phantom author, Amadeu de Prado, a renowned physician whose principles led him to confront Salazar’s dictatorship. Raimund, now obsessed with unlocking the mystery behind the man, is determined to meet all those on whom Prado left an indelible mark. Among them: his eighty-year-old sister, who maintains her brother’s house as if it were a museum; an elderly cleric and torture survivor confined to a nursing home; and Prado’s childhood friend and eventual partner in the Resistance. The closer Raimund comes to the truth of Prado’s life, and eventual fate, an extraordinary tale takes shape amid the labyrinthine memories of Prado’s intimate circle of family and friends, working in utmost secrecy to fight dictatorship, and the betrayals that threaten to expose them. “A meditative, deliberate exploration of loneliness, language and the human condition” (The San Diego Union-Tribune), Night Train to Lisbon “call[s] to mind the magical realism of Jorge Amado or Gabriel Garcia Marquez . . . allusive and thought-provoking, intellectually curious and yet heartbreakingly jaded,” and inexorably propelled by the haunting mystery at its heart (The Providence Journal). Night Train to Lisbon was adapted into Bille August’s award-winning 2013 film starring Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, Christopher Lee, and Charlotte Rampling.

Gregor A. Gregorius (Eugen Grosche) was a German bookseller, writer, psychotherapist, and occultist. Gregorius founded the then well-known bookstore Inveha," and the famous Fraternitas Saturni in Berlin, Germany in the 1920's until it was prohibited by the National Socialists in 1936.This little book is part of a series of study guides that Gregorius has written during the post-World War I period called the Weimar Republic. These days, the 1920s, proved to be a very fertile ground for diverse lodges and occult and magic teachings, especially in a large cultural center as Berlin.In this book, Gregorius conveys his vision of new modern sexuality and a replacement of old prudery and subscribes a sexual openness in a society that was quite ahead of its time.In the second part, Gregorius delineates the philosophy of sexual magic and its practice. Many of Gregorius' concepts of magic echo the true hermetic thought of Franz Bardon's system.

This novel by Hartmann tells the story of Gregorius, a medieval scholar who becomes disillusioned with his life and embarks on a journey to find meaning and purpose. Along the way he encounters various challenges and trials, and ultimately discovers a new perspective on life and learning. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.