James Branch Cabell's career was short-lived – his works fit neatly within the 1920s literary escapist culture and then quickly declined in popularity as the author veered away from the fantasy niche. In his heyday, Cabell garnered praise from several of his contemporaries such as H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. Lewis even acknowledged Cabell's successful «Jurgen» in his 1930 Nobel Prize address. «Jurgen» is certainly Cabell's m ...
The third and least political novel of the Palliser series, «The Eustace Diamonds» concerns the beautiful pathological liar Lizzie Greystock. Determined to marry into wealth, Lizzie snares the ailing Sir Florian Eustace and quickly becomes a widow. Despite the brevity of their marriage, Lizzie still inherits according to the generous terms of Sir Florian's will, which include the Eustace diamonds. When the Eustace family solicitor, Mr. Camp ...
Inspired by The Mussel Slough Tragedy, an 1880 dispute over land titles between California settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad, Frank Norris' 1901 novel, «The Octopus: A California Story», is the first part in the unfinished trilogy, «The Epic of Wheat». The novel depicts the conflict between wheat farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and the Pacific and Southwestern railroad. When the railroad attempts to take possession of land leased ...
Widely considered the masterpiece of the fascinating and mysterious man known as Stendahl, «The Red and the Black» is a two volume novel first published in 1830. It follows the ambitious desires of Julien Sorel, a young man raised in the French countryside who wishes to rise above his station and explore Paris and its society. Through a series of events, Julien's talent and hard work give way to deception and hypocrisy when he loses the wil ...
"The Tale of Genji" by Lady Muraski is one of the world's most influential novels. As the first psychological novel, «The Tale of Genji» delves into the motivations and thoughts of the main characters, which had never been done in previous novels. The famous Japanese story is about Genji, the son of an emperor. When his mother died, Genji's father married another woman who greatly resembled Genji's mother. However, Genji fell ...
Considered by many as the greatest of all Spanish authors, Miguel de Cervantes is most well-known of course for «Don Quixote,» a work of such literary impact that its historical importance cannot be understated. Unfortunately Cervantes' other works are often overlooked and characterized as inferior to his masterpiece. While his other writings never gained the popularity of «Don Quixote,» he did author several other works that are worthy of ...
There is no greater novel in the monster genre than «Frankenstein» and no more well known monster than the one that is at the center of this novel. However, the monster of «Frankenstein» is more than the common lumbering moronic giant that is most often represented. «Frankenstein's» monster is in reality a thinking intelligent being who is tormented by world in which he does not belong. In this depiction Shelley draws upon the universal hum ...
"The Downfall (La Debacle)" is Emile Zola’s 1892 novel, the penultimate in the Rougon-Macquart series, which is a story set against the background of the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan and the Paris Commune, events that led to the end of the reign of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire in 1870. The novel follows Jean Macquart, a corporal in the French army corps, as they are driven back by the Prussians deeper and deeper int ...
Written in just fifty-two days in the year 1839, «The Charterhouse of Parma» has since become known as Stendhal's finest work. Evidence of haste is infrequently apparent in this remarkable story, which follows the eventful life of the young Italian nobleman Fabrizio del Dongo. From his childhood in the family castle by Lake Como to the battlefields of Waterloo, Fabrizio proves himself charmingly headstrong and painfully naive. Upon returnin ...
