Early 1950s. A nameless man is found on the steps of the hospital in Romania. He is deaf and mute, but a young nurse named Safta recognizes him from the past and brings him paper and pencils so that he might draw. Gradually,...

In 1616, an English whaling ship heads home, leaving one sailor behind, Thomas Cave, who has made a bet with the rest of the crew that he can spend a winter on this Arctic islandalone.

Originally published in 1889, this work's protagonist Andrea Sperelli introduced the Italian culture to aestheticism and a taste for decadence. The young count seeks beauty, despises the bourgeois world, and rejects the basic...