LETTURE IN LINGUA

A gripping story that plunges its roots into our most feared nightmare. Through the eyes of Offred we are suddenly thrown into a surreal world which takes us back to the patriarchal world based on the Old Testament. Here women have been delegated to the role of homemakers and breeders.

The novel is set in an undetermined period in the future.in the territory that had originally been Massachusetts, USA. In the aftermath of terrible environmental disasters which resulted from chemical accidents birth-rates have dramatically fallen with a huge increase in sterility and stillbirths. Offred who has been kidnapped has been forced to become a handmaid in the new Republic of Gilead which is governed by a theocratic regime. Handmaids are young, fertile women who have been enslaved and destined to give birth to the future generations who will be brought up by the commanders and their wives.

Atwood paints a ruthless picture of American society using fiction to highlight the hypocritical side of a country that still harbours a puritanical legacy in the folds of its culture. We will witness the desperate struggle to survive and to regain human dignity that women have been deprived of.

A middle-aged woman running away from her dull reality by pretending to be someone else, a man whose married life has taken a path that he can no longer ignore, and two little girls pushed in a corner by a self-righteous neighbourhood;

with these stories Mrs Mansfield unfolds the human mind and gives us an understanding of the twisted ways it reaches out for meaning and fulfillment; she does so through a peculiar style of writing which by skillfully interweaving narrator's understatements and character's epiphanies deeply involves the reader and calls on them to reflect on the questions at stake.

The universality of the topics and issues tackled here enables Mrs Manfield’s work to talk to the generations of today, thus enhancing its purpose and value.

This is a contemporary and true story. Vladislav is a young refugee from Ukraine. He has to leave his country, after the Russian invasion, in 2022. Luckily, he joins a welcoming group of High School students, Daisy’s class, and makes new friends. Jennie, Daisy’s aunt, tells her daughter and her nieces the story of Zhenya. He is young man from Belarus and when he was a boy, he was hosted by Jennie, after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Now, Jennie and her family are going to volunteer once again, aided by a very supportive community. The text includes a variety of activities for the 4 skills and 4 dossiers to learn English and Civics together (Religions and Cultures, COVID-19 and health care, Ukraine’s past and present, Consequences of Climate Change).

The volume gives access to the full recording of all the stories and many of the activities online.

On a spring day in April Chaucer’s 29 pilgrims from many different walks of life set out on a traditional pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, each one telling a story to liven up the journey.

The five tales in this reader reflect the views of the various social classes in the new Medieval England, as well as revealing complex and comic aspects of human nature. The characters come to life as Chaucer describes their strengths and weaknesses, often with humour and irony and always with minute attention to detail, showing his deep understanding of men and women and their position in the social hierarchy.

This fascinating collection of individuals described in The General Prologue includes the noble Knight, the unforgettable Wife of Bath with her advice on matters of love, the avaricious Pardoner, the studious clerk and the Nun’s Priest whose tale proves that dreams are a serious subject.

The Iron Heel will engage the reader in a political fiction story that is considered one of the most powerful inspirations to the genre of dystopian novels.

The events narrated by London chronicle the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. Avis and Ernest Everhard, the protagonists of the book try to overturn the unfair economic system based on injustices and social inequities through a class struggle, but things are far from being easy when the Iron Heel of the Capitalist class is determined to keep the power in its hands.

In the book, London’s socialist views are openly displayed as is his visionary prediction of a future in which a newly established order will eventually triumph. The novel poses the question about the existence of an Iron Heel in our society and its modern meaning.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.

The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether is a dark short story centred on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France.

This “Maison de Santé” is led by Doctor Maillard, known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illness, called the “system of soothing”. The narrator is invited to dinner, and at the table strange things happen, shocking terribly the narrator. What kind of treatment is going on in this mental asylum? How will the story end?

The text includes four skills activities and dossiers to expand the cultural aspects associated with the story and connected to the setting.

The action takes place in London, in 1923, five years after the First War World and relates a single day in the life of Mrs Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman, who prepares for one of her charming evening parties. On that day Clarissa’s life is affected by several people she comes into contact with, particularly with the life of Septimus Warren Smith, a mentally damaged war veteran. Virginia Woolf reveals the differences in the way people think and see and treat one another, particularly she recounts the thoughts, the doubts, the worries and the feelings of Mrs Dalloway.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.

Who is this handsome young man with a generous heart and adventurous spirit? The country gentleman who found the baby boy in his large bed gave him the name Tom Jones and asked his sister to bring him up on their wealthy estate, Paradise Hall. Tom’s charm, vigour and trusting nature often get him into trouble and eventually he is forced to leave home and the woman he loves. He sets off on a journey that takes him along the dusty roads of the English countryside and into the vast city of London where he hopes to find his true identity. Along the way, he meets a number of unforgettable characters who all contribute to his destiny.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills, extra-readings to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.

Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is the story’s unlikely heroine. Gothic novels help her to escape from her ordinary life in the countryside. During a short holiday in Bath with some family’s friends she falls in love with Henry Tilney.

Invited to visit Northanger Abbey, Henry’s estate, her obsession for Gothic novels and her tendency to confuse fiction and reality cause her several problems which will make her progress to maturity and self-knowledge. With this novel, Jane Austen parodies the improbabilities of Gothic fiction and criticizes its influence on women readers.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects and Mp3 files.

A classic Shakespearean comedy, where the true nature of love and friendship is questioned. In a fast turn of events, both serious and funny, a smart woman’s plan will make a big difference in the battle between good and evil, saving an innocent from a cruel moneylender.

Shakespeare’s original work is enriched with a subplot, where a group of students studies the comedy to pass an important audition.

The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to discover more about cultural and historical aspects. The volume also comes with a set of recordings.