Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Madness
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A collection of dark and mysterious tales exploring duality and morality.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , by Robert Louis Stevenson , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the ... (Barnes & Noble)
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
A prince's struggle with grief, revenge, and morality in the face of a corrupt court.
The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet , and nephew of King Claudius , his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King ... (Wikipedia)
The Pit and the Pendulum - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story
by Edgar Allan Poe
A man is sentenced to death by a cruel Spanish Inquisition, and struggles against insurmountable odds to survive.
The unnamed narrator is brought to trial before sinister judges of the Spanish Inquisition . Poe provides no explanation of why he is there or of the charges on which he is being tried. Before him ... (Wikipedia)
Misery
by Stephen King
A psychological thriller of a woman's obsession with a wounded author, and its terrifying consequences.
Paul Sheldon, the author of the best-selling series of Victorian-era romance novels featuring the character Misery Chastain, has finished the series' final installment, Misery's Child , in which ... (Wikipedia)
The Black Cat
by Edgar Allan Poe
A man's descent into madness and guilt, upon committing a heinous act.
One of Edgar Allan Poe's most memorable stories. The tale centers on two matters, a black cat and the deterioration of a man. The man is one who enjoyed family life with his wife and numerous pets, ... (Goodreads)
King Lear
by William Shakespeare
An aging king's descent into madness reveals the consequences of pride and vanity.
Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Stories and Poems
by Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of dark and mysterious stories and poems, exploring the depths of the human condition.
This single volume brings together all of Poe's stories and poems, and illuminates the diverse and multifaceted genius of one of the greatest and most influential figures in American literary ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Tunnel
by Ernesto Sabato
A man's descent into madness, as his past unravels and his present is slowly consumed by it.
The story begins with the main character introducing himself as "the painter who killed María Iribarne" before delving into the circumstances that led to their first encounter. Castel's obsession ... (Wikipedia)
Don Quixote
by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.
Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)
The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells
A scientist's journey to invisibility which leads to a descent into madness.
A mysterious man, Griffin, referred to as 'the stranger', arrives at the local inn owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hall of the English village of Iping , West Sussex, during a snowstorm. The stranger wears a ... (Wikipedia)
Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror, Vol. 1
by Junji Ito
A small town is plagued by a supernatural force that causes events to take strange and terrifying turns.
Uzumaki follows a high-school teenager, Kirie Goshima (,五島桐絵,) ; her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito (,斎藤秀一,) ; and the citizens of the small, quiet Japanese town of Kurouzu-cho (,黒渦町,, Black Vortex Town,) ... (Wikipedia)
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror
by H.P. Lovecraft
Collection of horror stories about the unknown and unknowable, exploring the deepest fears of mankind.
Few writers can evoke such nightmarish visions as H. P. Lovecraft—and few of his stories are as chilling as these canonical tales of terror. ,“H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson
A group of people investigating a mysterious and haunted house, uncovering its secrets.
It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted ... (Goodreads)
House of Leaves
by Mark Z. Danielewski
A family discovers a hidden door in their home leading to an ever-shifting labyrinth.
House of Leaves begins with a first-person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee and professed unreliable narrator . Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend ... (Wikipedia)
Invitation to a Beheading
by Vladimir Nabokov
A man's surreal experience in a dystopian world of psychological and physical torment.
Narrated omnisciently , the novel opens with Cincinnatus C., a thirty-year-old teacher and the protagonist, being sentenced to death by beheading for the crime "gnostical turpitude" in twenty days' ... (Wikipedia)
The Third Policeman
by Flann O'Brien
A bizarre yet darkly funny tale of a man's descent into a surreal world of mischievous creatures and strange events.
The Third Policeman is set in rural Ireland and is narrated by a dedicated amateur scholar of de Selby , a scientist and philosopher. , The narrator, whose name we never learn, is orphaned at a young ... (Wikipedia)
Homer & Langley
by E.L. Doctorow
Eccentric brothers live in a decaying mansion in New York City, hidden away from the rest of the world.
From Ragtime and Billy Bathgate to The Book of Daniel, World’s Fair, and The March, the novels of E. L. Doctorow comprise one of the most substantive achievements of modern American fiction. Now, ... (Goodreads)
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
A journey into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the darkness of colonialism.
Aboard the Nellie , anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend , Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors how he became captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. As a child, Marlow ... (Wikipedia)
The Dunwich Horror and Others
by H.P. Lovecraft
Collection of horror stories exploring fear, dread and the unknown.
Contents: ix · H.P. Lovecraft and His Work · August Derleth · in 10 · In the Vault · ss The Tryout Nov ’25; Weird Tales Apr ’32 19 · Pickman’s Model · ss Weird Tales Oct ’27 33 · The Rats in the ... (Goodreads)
The Fall of the House of Usher - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story
by Edgar Allan Poe
A man's descent into madness as he visits an ominous estate, beset by death and horror.
The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking ... (Wikipedia)
The Atrocity Exhibition
by J.G. Ballard
A collection of interconnected stories exploring the dark side of modernity, technology, and human psychology.
Easily one of the 20th century's most visionary writers, J. G. Ballard lived far ahead of his time. Called his "prophetic masterpiece" by many, The Atrocity Exhibition practically lies outside of any ... (Goodreads)
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories
by Tim Burton
Collection of darkly humorous, twisted tales of peculiar and fantastical characters.
From breathtaking stop-action animation to bittersweet modern fairy tales, filmmaker Tim Burton has become known for his unique visual brilliance – witty and macabre at once. Now he gives birth to a ... (Goodreads)
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories
by Nikolai Gogol
Collection of humorous and dark stories exploring the absurd and surreal.
Hailed by Nabokov as "the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced," Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) left his mark as a playwright, novelist, and writer of short stories. Gogol's works remain popular ... (Goodreads)
Pale Fire
by Vladimir Nabokov
A darkly comic and philosophical exploration of art, sanity, and the nature of reality.
Shade's poem digressively describes many aspects of his life. Canto 1 includes his early encounters with death and glimpses of what he takes to be the supernatural. Canto 2 is about his family and ... (Wikipedia)
The Yellow Wall-Paper
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A woman's descent into madness due to oppressive social expectations.
A woman and her husband rent a summer house, but what should be a restful getaway turns into a suffocating psychological battle. This chilling account of postpartum depression and a husband's ... (Goodreads)
Auto-da-Fé
by Elias Canetti
A reclusive scholar's life is turned upside down by his obsession with a woman and his encounters with eccentric characters in pre-WWII Vienna.
"Auto-da-Fé" is the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished, reclusive sinologist living in Vienna between the wars. With masterly precision, Canetti reveals Kien's character, displaying the flawed ... (Goodreads)
Lady Audley's Secret
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
A young woman's descent into madness, unraveling the secrets of her past.
The novel opens with the marriage in June 1857, of Lucy Graham, a beautiful, childlike blonde who enchants almost all who meet her, to Sir Michael Audley, a middle-aged, rich, and kind widower. Lucy ... (Wikipedia)
Night Shift
by Stephen King
Collection of horror stories exploring the darker side of human nature.
"You will encounter all manner of night creatures", warns the author of this book. "None of them are real. The thing under my bed isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep ... (Goodreads)
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of dark and mysterious stories and verses, exploring the human psyche.
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe , by Edgar Allan Poe , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Double
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A man's battle against his own doppelganger, exploring the depths of his psyche.
In Saint Petersburg , Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin works as a titular councillor (rank 9 in the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great . , ), a low-level bureaucrat struggling to succeed. ... (Wikipedia)
The Woman in Black
by Susan Hill
A Victorian lawyer is tasked with investigating a mysterious and frightening ghost.
The novel is narrated by Arthur Kipps, the young lawyer who formerly worked for Mr. Bentley. One Christmas Eve he is at home with his wife Esme and four stepchildren, who are sharing ghost stories. ... (Wikipedia)
Psycho
by Robert Bloch
A chilling thriller of suspense and horror, confronting a psychopathic murderer.
Norman Bates , a middle-aged bachelor, is dominated by his mother, a mean-tempered, puritanical old woman who forbids him to have a life outside of her. They run a small motel together in the town of ... (Wikipedia)
The Complete Poetry
by Edgar Allan Poe
Collection of dark, romantic, and macabre poems exploring the depths of the human experience.
The eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe remain among the most brilliant, enduring, and influencial works in American literature. But Poe is also the author of some of the most haunting poetry ever ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Fiction
by H.P. Lovecraft
A collection of horror fiction stories exploring the unknown.
Another excellent edition in the Knickerbocker Classic series, The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft collects the author's novel, four novellas, and fifty-three short stories. Written between the ... (Goodreads)
Everything's Eventual
by Stephen King
A collection of short stories exploring the darker themes of life.
The first collection of stories Stephen King has published since Nightmares & Dreamscapes nine years ago, Everything's Eventual includes one O. Henry Prize winner, two other award winners, four ... (Goodreads)
Wilt
by Tom Sharpe
A hilarious comedy of errors, as an Englishman struggles to keep his sanity while escaping his chaotic life.
Henry Wilt, tied to a daft job and a domineering wife, has just been passed over for promotion yet again. Ahead of him at the Polytechnic stretch years of trying to thump literature into the heads of ... (Goodreads)
The Blind Owl
by Sadegh Hedayat
A surreal exploration of the human condition, touching on themes of despondency, futility, and nihilism.
Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
Collection of stories, poems, and essays by Poe that explore death, despair, and terror.
The foremost and most energetic in instituting this search was the bosom friend of Mr. Shuttleworthy, a Mr. Charles Goodfellow, or, as he was universally called, Charley Goodfellow, or Old Charley ... (Barnes & Noble)
Fool
by Christopher Moore
A bawdy and whimsical take on the classic tale of King Lear and the madness that ensues.
Pocket is the royal fool at the court of King Lear of Britain. To prevent Lear from marrying off his daughter Cordelia, a girl Pocket is especially fond of, he schemes with Edmund of Gloucester. ... (Wikipedia)
The Call of Cthulhu
by H.P. Lovecraft
A tale of horror and mystery, as a man investigates an ancient cult's dark secrets.
The story's narrator, Francis Wayland Thurston, recounts his discovery of various notes left behind by his great uncle, George Gammell Angell, a prominent professor of Semitic languages at Brown ... (Wikipedia)
The King in Yellow
by Robert W. Chambers
A collection of horror stories exploring the mysteries of an ancient and powerful book.
One of the leading examples of Victorian-gothic horror, The King in Yellow is a collection of ten inter-related stories that explore the despair and madness that affect characters that come into ... (Goodreads)
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales
by H.P. Lovecraft
Collection of bizarre horror stories exploring the cosmic unknown.
Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, H. P. Lovecraft's astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmology that are as powerful today as they were ... (Goodreads)
Cuentos de Amor de Locura y de Muerte
by Horacio Quiroga
A collection of stories focusing on love, madness, and death.
Constituye la obra cumbre del autor, en las breves y apasionantes historias que componen el libro, la intriga, el drama y el misterio se desbordan y nos invaden. Quiroga es aquí consagrado como uno ... (Goodreads)
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
by H.P. Lovecraft
Collection of horror stories about a cult's dark rituals and the cosmic entity Cthulhu.
This collection spans Lovecraft’s literary career, and charts the development of his ‘cosmicist’ philosophy; the belief that behind the veil of our blinkered everyday lives lies another reality, too ... (Goodreads)
Hamlet: Screenplay, Introduction And Film Diary
by Kenneth Branagh
A reimagined version of Shakespeare's classic play, told through film.
Often credited with creating a popular movie audience for Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh has wanted for many years to bring to the screen the complete, full-length version of Hamlet , Shakespeare's ... (Goodreads)
Shutter Island
by Dennis Lehane
A U.S. Marshal investigates a psychiatric hospital on a remote island, uncovering chilling secrets and an unexpected truth.
In 1954, widower U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, go on a ferry boat to Shutter Island, the home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate ... (Wikipedia)
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
by Edgar Allan Poe
Gothic horror stories exploring the dark side of the human psyche.
The eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe, from the 1830s and 40s, remain among the most brilliant and influential works in American literature. Some of the celebrated tales contained in this unique volume ... (Goodreads)
Ice
by Anna Kavan
A surreal and haunting tale of addiction, obsession, and a woman's search for escape in a frozen, apocalyptic world.
In this haunting and surreal novel, the narrator and a man known as the warden search for an elusive girl in a frozen, seemingly post-nuclear, apocalyptic landscape. The country has been invaded and ... (Goodreads)
The Great God Pan
by Arthur Machen
A horror story of a sinister experiment that unleashes a terrifying supernatural creature.
The Great God Pan" is a novella written by Arthur Machen. A version of the story was published in the magazine Whirlwind in 1890, and Machen revised and extended it for its book publication (together ... (Goodreads)
Strangers on a Train
by Patricia Highsmith
Suspenseful tale of a young man's dangerous encounter with a mysterious stranger.
Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a ... (Wikipedia)
Fever Dream
by Samanta Schweblin
A woman's surreal, unsettling journey into the depths of her subconscious.
Waking up disoriented in a clinic, Amanda begins a conversation with a young boy named David. He urges Amanda to try to remember what happened before she came to the clinic. Through the constant ... (Wikipedia)
Amok and other Stories
by Stefan Zweig
A man's inner turmoil and descent into madness, driven by his own obsessions.
The nameless first-person narrator travels from India to Europe on the ocean liner Oceania in 1912. One night, during a walk on deck, he meets a man who, disturbed and scared, avoids any social ... (Wikipedia)
Tell Me Your Dreams
by Sidney Sheldon
Three women charged with a series of murders who share a mysterious connection.
She had read about stalkers, but they belonged in a different, faraway world. She had no idea who it could be, who would want to harm her. She was trying desperately not to panic, but lately her ... (Goodreads)
The Sandman
by E.T.A. Hoffmann
A dark fantasy tale exploring the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
The story is told by a narrator who claims to have known Lothar. It begins by quoting three letters: 1. A letter from Nathanael to Lothar, the brother of his fiancée, Clara. Nathanael recalls his ... (Wikipedia)
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