Maurice Greiffenhagen Livres

A repository of subversive, melancholic, and existentialist themes, the rubaiyat (quatrains) attributed to the 12th-century Persian astronomer Omar Khayyam have enchanted readers for centuries. These poems explore universal questions such as the meaning of life, fate, and how to live a good life in the face of human mortality. This collection reveals why these singular poems have resonated with a diverse audience, from the wine houses of medieval Iran to the poets of Western twentieth-century modernism.

Dickens went to America in 1842 expecting to find a brave new world whose institutions embodied his own political views. The Americans expected him to extol their new nation. Dickens, however, became deeply disturbed by American culture. American Notes attempts to portray fairly the young Republic's new cities, strange landscapes and bustling people, but is coloured by Dicken's doubts about the failings of democratic politics in an egalitarian society.