"Edgar Huntly", an early American novel by Charles Brockden Brown, is the story of its title character, who upon learning of the death of the brother of his friend and love interest, Mary Waldegrave, visits the place of her brother's death. There he discovers a man, Clithero, suspiciously lurking about. Suspecting Clithero of Mr. Waldegrave's murder he begins investigating the matter. «Edgar Huntly» is a gripping mystery rich with ...
William Wells Brown (1814-1884) is credited with being the first African American novelist. His 1853 work «Clotel; Or, The President's Daughter» is a groundbreaking piece of American fiction. The long untouched subject matter of mixed race identity during the antebellum South is here treated with great craft and bravery. William Wells Brown confronts the hypocrisy of slavery, examining the detrimental effects it has on society. Even more di ...
"Looking Backward: 2000-1887" is considered to be one of the greatest and most widely read of the utopian novels. It is the story of a young gentleman from Boston who mysteriously wakes from a sleep of over a hundred years to find himself transplanted to a utopian futuristic world. This future world is one of prosperity, cooperation, and harmony. Edward Bellamy's classic novel inspired a rebirth of the utopian novel genre and has been ...
Originally published in Russian in 1840 Lermontov's «A Hero of Our Time» greatly influenced the later works of other great Russian authors such as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. «A Hero of Our Time» is a pioneering work in the genre of the anti-hero novel. The novel's narrative is the story of Pechorin a young nihilistic officer in the army who's story is told in five non-chronological parts. ...
Considered to be one of Balzac’s most important works, «Old Goriot», or «Pere Goriot», is the story of its title character Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugene de Rastignac. We are introduced to the characters at Maison Vauquer, a boarding house owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. Central to the theme of the book is the struggle to achieve upper-class status in society. Rastignac is eager to ...
Jack Easy, a midshipman in the Royal Navy, is a man with a particular socialistic philosophy, which he has adopted ironically from his wealthy father. More satirical comedy than treatise on economic philosophy, «Mr. Midshipman Easy» is a coming of age story of its title character, who while at sea befriends a lower deck seaman named Mesty, an escaped slave, who had been a prince in Africa. Mesty is sympathetic to Easy's philosophy however b ...
The works of English essayist, novelist and short story writer, E.M. Forster, rank in the sphere of such influential writers as James Joyce, William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf for their remarkable humanist views and emphasis on the conflicts of English social classes. Forster's own favorite of his works, «The Longest Journey» touches on themes of family, sexuality, preoccupation with material society, and the necessity of passion in life. ...
Washington Irving (1783-1859), possibly America's first genuine internationally best-selling author, was best known for his short stories «The Legend of Sleepy Hollow» and «Rip Van Winkle.» As an author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century, he wrote numerous accounts of his travels. Some of his historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington as well as several histories of 1 ...
"The Sorrows of Young Werther" is the 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Goethe. A loosely autobiographical novel, «The Sorrows of Young Werther» tells the story of its title character, an artist with a highly sensitive and passionate temperament who falls in love with Lotte, a beautiful young girl who is promised to another in the fictional village of Wahlheim. A classic and tragic love story, «The Sorrows of Young Werther» established Goethe ...
