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A cheap shot at a bestseller or a deeper book with connections relevant to the human race? In The Call of the Wild, the protagonist is a dog named...

No HBO? Well then, how does a horror short story writing contest sound? And the winner is...drum roll, please...Mary Shelley. You go, girl. And tha...

This video summarizes the Shakespearean play Macbeth. Two major forces are at play in the story: witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s demanding wi...

Anyone who has ever bought anything from IKEA knows this to be true.

Their eyes may have been watching God, but we think we know who won that staring contest.

On his ten-year journey home from the Trojan War, Odysseus runs into everything from sirens to sea monsters to seductresses. Such is life when you...

Prepare for total tragedy.

But soft! What Shmoop through yonder window breaks?

Boy and girl meet, fall in love, and commit suicide in a tomb. You know, your average love story.

Pious Aeneas goes from minor character in the Trojan War to founder of Rome, the city that conquered the world, meetin' ladies and experiencing maj...

Pious Aeneas strikes again. This time, with more destiny and hand-to-hand combat! (Of course, since we're talking about Aeneas, he's still harping...

Why did the editor give Chapter 21 of A Clockwork Orange the axe? Was it because he wanted to leave the reader hanging? Or did he realize Americans...

Everyone has that happy-go-lucky friend. The one who skips through life with a smile and believes everybody has a beautiful soul. We're guessing th...

How's Julius Caesar doing after that whole "assassination" thing? Well, he's taking it one day at a time.

The book is as big as the whale.

Folk tales are all about conveying a deeper meaning—no banjos required. Arabian Nights is one of the most famous collections, so get ready to lea...

This story goes as you might expect—a sprinkling of science, endless amounts of death and despair, and a whole lot of ugly monster. Oh joyous day!

Whenever you start regretting the choices you've made in your life, just review Oedipus' story, and you'll start feeling a heck of a lot better.

Please, Sir, can we have some more... Oliver Twist?

We wish the Tralfamadorians were as fun as they sound. But unfortunately, they're your garden variety kidnap-humans-and-torture-them type of alien.