Originally one story but divided into two, «Puddn'head Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins» is a combination of Mark Twain's light-hearted humor as well as his penchant for the melancholy. «Pudd'nhead Wilson» is a murder mystery set in the Antebellum South in Missouri, more specifically, on the Mississippi River. During infancy, a light-skinned black baby and a white-skinned baby were switched at birth by a slave mother. Because ...
"Wanderers" is Knut Hamsun's 1909 novel whose title expresses one of the most central themes to Hamsun's work, that of the wanderer. Hamsun, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his monumental work «Growth of the Soil», believed that modern literature should be used to express the intricacies of the human mind. Hamsun's work also is strongly known for his vivid depictions of the natural world and its connection to man. T ...
"The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" is Charles Dickens 19th century novella that concludes his series of five Christmas books written between 1843 and 1848. It is the story of Professor Redlaw, a chemistry teacher who is constantly brooding over the grief caused by past wrongs done to him. Redlaw is haunted by a spirit who takes from him these painful memories, which leaves him unexpectedly bitter. Ultimately the conflict of the ...
"The Sign of the Four" is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's follow-up to his immensely successful «A Study in Scarlet», where we first meet one of the most famous literary detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes. «The Sign of the Four» is the mystery surrounding the disappearance Miss Mary Morstan's father. Every year on the anniversary of Miss Morstan's father's disappearance, Mary receives an anonymous gift of a priceless pearl ...
"Oroonoko" by Aphra Behn is an important work of western literature. Published in 1688, it follows the tragic love story of Oroonoko and Imoinda, two Coromantin lovers. The two young people fall deeply in love with each other and are secretly married. Yet the king also loves Imoinda, and commands that she become a part of his harem. When he discovers that she has already lost her virginity, he secretly sells her as a slave. Because of his o ...
Lyman Frank Baum (1856-1919) was an American writer of children's books, best known for creating the marvelous Land of Oz in «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz». This fanciful kingdom was catalogued in a series of children's books beginning with the publication of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz». Baum's Oz series compasses the first fully developed fantasy world created by an American author. In 1900, Baum and Denslow, famous illustrator wi ...
Despite a decreasing popularity throughout his career, Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) has come to be recognized as one of the most notable and respected English novelists of the Victorian Era. His penetrating novels on political, social and gender issues of his day have placed him among such nineteenth century literary icons as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Trollope penned 47 novels in his career, in addition to various short stor ...
"The Inferno", Henri Barbusse's 1908 novel, is a brilliant examination of the philosophy of solipsism, which is the idea that knowledge outside of one's own mind is essentially unobtainable. Solipsism conjectures that the external world and the minds of other people can never be known to truly exist. The narrative follows an unnamed man who by cutting a hole in his room gains a view to the outside world. He voyeuristically bears w ...
Jack London's «The Sea Wolf» is the story of Humphrey van Weyden. While onboard a San Francisco ferry which collides with another ship in the fog and sinks, Humphrey is picked up by Wolf Larsen, the captain of the seal-hunting schooner the «Ghost». A brutal ship master, Wolf rules over his ship with an iron hand. Forced to be a cabin boy and do menial work, Humphrey is forced to toughen up quick in this thrilling nautical adventure. ...
