The Modern Classics Library
Timeless books,
reborn for today.
We take the great public-domain works of literature and carefully modernize them — archaic spelling smoothed, dense passages clarified — while keeping every author’s voice intact. Free to read, online.
The Library
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The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Taras Bulba, and Other Tales
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street
Herman Melville
The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: the Wisdom of Life
Arthur Schopenhauer
The Darling and Other Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Kashtanka and Other Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
The Chorus Girl and Other Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
From the Journal
All essays →Social Class in Classic Literature
From Austen's genteel drawing rooms to Dickens's grimy workhouses and Fitzgerald's glittering parties, classic literature holds a mirror to the realities of social class. These stories reveal how wealth, birth, and status have shaped — and constrained — human lives for centuries.
Justice and Revenge in Classic Literature
Classic literature is filled with characters who seek justice — and those who cross the line into revenge. From Hamlet's tormented indecision to Edmond Dantès's elaborate schemes, these stories probe the moral consequences of taking justice into one's own hands.
The Theme of Love in Classic Literature
From the restrained courtship of Austen's drawing rooms to the destructive passion of Brontë's moors, love has driven the greatest stories in classic literature. This article traces the many faces of love across centuries of fiction and poetry.