Abraham Cahan (1860-1951) was a Lithuanian-born American communalist newspaper editor, politician, and novelist. His family, who was devoutly religious, moved to Wilna, New York in 1866 where the young Cahan received the usual Jewish preparatory education for the rabbinate. He, however, was attracted by secular knowledge and secretly studied the Russian language, ultimately entering the Teachers Institute of Wilna. Four years after his arrival i ...
"Wildfire" is the story of Lucy Bostil, the daughter of a stable owner, who happens upon Lin Slone, knocked unconscious while chasing his unruly colt Wildfire through the hills. When Lin convinces Lucy to ride Wildfire in the upcoming race, the villainous Cordts will stop at nothing to make sure that it is his horse that wins the race instead. «Wildfire» is a classic tale of western suspense and adventure from one of the most prolific and p ...
Gene Stratton Porter (1863-1924) was a pioneering naturalist, wide-life activist, and successful author. Born into a large family in Wabash County, Indiana, Gene quickly found her passion in the natural environment that surrounded her. Their original home was built in close proximity to Limberlost Swamp, a large wetland. This location would provide a setting for two of her most popular novels, «Freckles» (1904) and «A Girl of the Limberlost» (19 ...
"The Turn of the Screw" is an intense psychological tale of terror. It begins in an old house on Christmas Eve. It is the story of a Governess who comes to live with and take care of two young children. The Governess loves her new position in charge of the young children, however she is soon disturbed when she begins to see ghosts. ...
"The Gambler" is a gripping narrative of the dangers of an addiction to gambling. As was common with Dostoyevsky's writing he draws upon his own life in a semi-autobiographical way in «The Gambler». Dostoyevksy himself suffered from a compulsion to gambling and those first-hand experiences bring a depth of realism to «The Gambler» and to his portrayal of the main character, Alexis Ivanovitch, a young man addicted to gambling. «The Gamb ...
The «Divine Comedy» was entitled by Dante himself merely «Commedia,» meaning a poetic composition in a style intermediate between the sustained nobility of tragedy, and the popular tone of elegy. The word had no dramatic implication at that time, though it did involve a happy ending. The poem is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect i ...
One of the most important works of modernist literature, James Joyce’s «Ulysses» was originally published in serial format from 1918 to 1920 and then published in a single edition in 1922, which this edition is drawn from. «Ulysses» chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, June 16, 1904. While the novel appears largely unstructured at first glance it is in fact very closely paralleled to Homer’s «Odyssey», c ...
"Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress", was written by Frances Burney in 1782, shortly after the success of her first novel, «Evelina». The novel tells the story of Cecilia Beverley, a young woman who may only receive an inheritance from her uncle upon marrying a man who agrees to take the name Beverley. The work is a scathing commentary on English aristocratic society, at that time a male-oriented world of pretension and politics. Burney is n ...
While he had written many short stories before, «Fanshawe» was Nathaniel Hawthorne's first attempt at writing a novel. The novel is based on his experiences at Bowdoin College in the early 1820s and Hawthorne published the novel himself anonymously in 1828. A commercial failure, Nathaniel Hawthorne's contempt for his first novel can be seen in his efforts to destroy every copy of it. All unsold copies were burned and later all copies t ...
