Gorky's Mother and Clarín's La Regenta Featured at Havana Book Fair

Classic titles such as Mother by Maxim Gorky and La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" will be released by the Arte y Literatura publishing house at the 34th Havana International Book Fair, which opens its doors this coming Monday.

Dedicated to Russia, the event will present classics from the Eurasian nation including Maxim Gorky's (1868–1936) Mother, published in 1907 and considered his most famous work.

Also featured is Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, one of the masterpieces of his late narrative phase, inspired by the story of a high-ranking magistrate judge in 19th-century Russia and his suffering and death from a terminal illness.

Joining these is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), first published in 1955, centered on the relationship between a professor and his 12-year-old stepdaughter.

The publishing house, one of the most prestigious in the Caribbean nation, will offer other 19th-century classics for sale during the event, which runs through August 16, including Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant—a selection from the more than 300 created by the French naturalist writer.

The public will also be able to explore La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas "Clarín", a classic of Spanish literature, his first novel, and considered his masterpiece as well as a pinnacle of 19th-century Spanish prose, originally published in two volumes between 1884 and 1885.

Adapted for film in 1974, La Regenta tells the story of Ana Ozores, a beautiful young woman trapped in a loveless marriage with the regent of the city of Vetusta, a stern older man.

Another offering is Two Tales by American author Herman Melville (1819–1891), featuring the novellas Benito Cereno and Billy Budd, based on the story of a ship captain and his crew following a severe weather event that severely damages their vessel.

On its Facebook profile, Arte y Literatura also promotes The Banquet of the Muses by Félix Julio Alfonso, a work that, according to the publisher, "stems from an old obsession: how historians write History."

Organized by the Cuban Book Institute and the Cuban Book Chamber, the event will feature 1,300 new editorial releases and is also dedicated to the centennial of the birth of Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro (1926–2016).

Hosted at the Línea y 18 Cultural Center in Havana's Vedado neighborhood, the fair also pays tribute to journalist and writer Marilyn Bobes and researcher José Bell Lara.