Frederick Davidson
Inspired by the Black Plague that devastated Europe in the mid-1300s, Boccaccio's collection of tales is an enormously influential literary masterpiece with a sly humor and irreverence that will appeal to modern readers. In the hopes of avoiding the plague, a group of ten wealthy young men and women decamp to a country villa on the outskirts of Florence. Once there, they decide to amuse themselves with a storytelling competition of sorts, with
...3) Lord Jim
Marlow narrates the story of Lord Jim, a promising young man who falls from grace, then attempts to redeem himself in Patusan, a fictional Indonesian island. His story is told entirely through the perspectives of Marlow and others who join their voices to his, and so the enigma at the centre of Jim's character and actions is never entirely resolved. Marlow also narrates Conrad's novels Heart of Darkness and Youth and Chance.
Jeeves belongs to a club for butlers in London's fashionable West End, and one of the rules there is that every member must contribute to the club book everything about the fellow he is working for, the idea being that such information will help those seeking new employment.
Some dull employers are given only a few lines in the club book, but Jeeves has penned eighteen pages about his employer, Bertie Wooster. And Bertie, quite understandably,
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