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World Literature Videos


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Arabian Nights
11046 Views

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...

The Book Thief
79474 Views

In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, Death narrates the story of one girl who lived during the Holocaust. Not surprisingly, it's kind of a downer—bu...

Crime and Punishment
30972 Views

Crime and Punishment is all about a boy killing for money, literally, and then spending the rest of the book trying to hide it. Although the book c...

Frankenstein
112310 Views

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...

Icarus
5397 Views

Don't fly too close to the sun, Shmoopers.

Nectar in a Sieve
2861 Views

What's the deal with "Nectar in a Sieve"? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Oedipus the King
37936 Views

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.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
1631 Views

Maybe it's just us, but we don't like to put off our dreams. After all, who knows? Tomorrow night, we might not want to have hands that are giant m...

The Handmaid's Tale
62925 Views

This video discusses Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a negative utopia in which women have no control over the government o...

The Mahabharata
8921 Views

The Mahabha-what-now? Although you may not be as familiar with this epic text as you are with the Bible, it's just as famous in other parts of the...

Things Fall Apart and Imperialism
37893 Views

Books become classics because they either reflect on or influence the world around us. As was the casewith Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Of...

A Hunger Artist (Kafka)
4688 Views

Guy in a black leotard. In a cage. Not eating. Weird? Yes. Popular? Absolutely. Kafka's short story includes iconic artist-figures: a mouse singer...

Diameter of the Bomb (Amichai)
698 Views

Why would Yehuda Amichai write an entire book on the diameter of a bomb and the diameter of its range? Is he trying to convey a message? Is his boo...

The Diary of Anne Frank
30975 Views

She was just a girl who found herself in some unimaginably awful circumstances. If you feel like gaining some valuable perspective on the drama in...

Echo and Narcissus
4243 Views

Today we aren't looking for the most virtuous person, or most likeable, but rather the most disturbing. Will it be Echo, the nymph who is doomed to...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2843 Views

Lisbeth Salander is a tough nut to crack. Hero? Villain? Somewhere in the middle? We're not sure, but we're hesitant to accuse her of anything...es...

Life of Pi
25249 Views

Life of Pi tells the story of a boy and a tiger trapped on a lifeboat for 227 days... or does it?

Reading the Psalms
293 Views

Shmoop is our shepherd.

The Count of Monte Cristo
7528 Views

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. In our opinion, however, it should be popped into the microwave for about 30-45 seconds.

The Origin Story
563 Views

Every culture has some idea about where we all came from. Surprisingly, very few of them hypothesize that we are all simply figments of Lady Gagaâ€...

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