This Victorian Gothic novel is about moral decay and the evanescence of beauty and youth. Young Dorian Gray meets the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton at Basil Hallward’s studio by whom he is currently being painted. Basil sees Dorian as his new muse, infatuated by his beauty. Dorian is enthralled by the Lord’s hedonistic world view […]
Years after breaking up, Bill and Mary randomly meet on the street. Despite the time that has passed and the two of them having new partners and children, Mary still seems to be emotionally attached to Bill. But after a short exchange of words, they go their separate ways. This short story shows that what […]
A Gothic short story about the inevitability of death, emphasising that in death everyone is equal. The fearless and happy prince Prospero celebrates opulent masquerade balls with many other nobles while outside his thick castle walls the Red Death rages and carries off the less fortunate. In the story, Prospero set up seven different coloured […]
This semi-autobiographical novel recounts a fascinating adventure about criminality, individual freedom and the willingness to help. Partly inspired by real-life events of its author Gregory Roberts the text offers an insight in a world of poverty, social stratification, crime and drug abuse. Jailed for multiple accounts of robbery, the narrator escapes from his Australian prison […]
A classic children’s novel about poverty and wealth, humility, kindness and greed. Charlie is an eleven-year-old boy who loves chocolate and lives with his parents and grandparents in a little hut close to a big city. They do not have a lot of money, but Charlie and his family live a happy life until Charlie’s […]
A dystopian movie drama about power, subversion and the lengths some people will go to protect their family: In Katniss’ world, survival is everything. She lives in a poor, rural district of a future version of the North-American continent re-shaped by a disaster. For the meagre support provided by the Capitol, all the districts have […]
A coming-of-age movie about family, rootlessness and uncovering who you really are: The viewer is invited into three stages of protagonist Chiron’s life. As a kid nicknamed “Little”, Chiron is picked on by his peers while he has to grow up without a father. As a teenager trying to survive school, he has to realize […]
This teen drama movie explores the conflict between obedience and freedom at school: Welton Academy is an all-male, elite school in the USA. With conservative strictness, students are taught the classical contents of education. That is until a new English teacher John Keaton sets foot in Welton. His methods are far from ‘classical’, his honesty […]
A witch and her cat are happily flying through the air until a gust of wind blows her hat, bow and wand away. Luckily a dog, bird and frog retrieve them for her. In return they’d love to take a ride on the witch’s broomstick, but how long until that broom inevitably snaps in two? […]
This gothic tale tells a scary but humourous story of greed, marriage and the power of imagination. Coming from New York, the main character and poor schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane attempts to win the heart and hand of Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the richest farmer in Sleepy Hollow. The small, quiet and somehow enchanted […]
Written in three stanzas, this romantic poem on the power of nature, the consolation of beauty, mortality and transformation, reflects on three different aspects of autumn. The first stanza praises autumn’s fruitfulness and describes the harvest season. The second stanza describes the labour performed in autumn. The final stanza describes late autumn as a time […]
A Shakespearean tragedy from Early Modernism / Renaissance about madness, revenge, political intrigues, love and loss. The king of Denmark is dead, and soon his widow Gertrud marries Claudius, the former king’s brother. Prince Hamlet is depressed because of his father’s death and angry at his mother for remarrying so quickly. One night his father’s […]
A humourous coming-of-age graphic novel about love, friendship, teenage troubles (alcohol, sexuality, violence…) and intercultural contact. Junior is a 14-year old Native-American teenager who grows up in the Spokane Indian Reservation in the State of Washington. Being bullied because of his special needs, he decides to visit an all-white public high school off the reservation, […]
A modern ‘from rags to riches’ tale about believing in both fate and love against all odds. In Q & A, the inspiration for the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, Swarup tells the story of Ram Muhammed Thomas, who participates in India’s game show “Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?”. When Ram answers question after question […]
A dystopian novel about global warming, environmental pollution, love and the loss of biodiversity. In the year 2025, 75-year-old Tyrone works as a caretaker at the estate of a wealthy rockstar in California which functions as the habitat for animals that are the last of their kind. Climate change has caused mass extinctions and rice […]
A coming-of-age novel about patriarchy, racism, social injustices and rape. Esperanza is a teenage girl living with her family in Chicago. In short episodes she tells the reader about her life, growing up on Mango Street in a poor Mexican-American community. Esperanza grows up, makes friends, falls in love and endures sexual assault. Through all […]
This young adult novel set in a small town in Pennsylvania explores themes such as racism, loss, inequality and homelessness. Jeffrey Magee is a young, homeless drifter and ends up in Two Mills, a town that is strictly divided into a white and a black community. Jeffrey visits both communities, experiences racial tensions and tries […]
A family saga about migration, destiny, gender relations and intersexuality. Cal was born as Calliope, the daughter of a Greek-American family in Michigan. But during puberty, the girl develops more and more male features and Cal finds out that he is intersexual and feels more male than female. He retells the story of his family. […]