Archiv der Kategorie: Classics of Fiction (English)

An Imperative Duty

An Imperative Duty – William Dean Howells

Mr. Howells’ latest novel deserves and will receive wide reading. It deals with a problem which had found its way into American social life of his time: “How will a cultivated and beautiful woman feel if she discovers that she has a tinge of negro blood in her veins? How will other people, particularly her lover, feel and act?” Mr. Howells works out the problem with skill, on what seem to us sound lines of reasoning. ‘An Imperative Duty’ is so mature a work, and so good an example of the author’s method, that it invites the closest scrutiny. It is written with his usual acuteness and cleverness, but with even more than … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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A Boy’s Town

A Boy’s Town – William Dean Howells

The question of the identity of ‘A Boy’s Town’, has excited almost as much interest, in a certain section of our country, as the long-discussed question of the birthplace of Homer. That Mr. Howells is his own Boy there can be no doubt. But Mr. Howells, according to the biographies, was born at Martin’s Ferry in 1837. The family moved to Hamilton when he was three years of age, to Dayton when he was nine, and to Columbus-probably the scene of the opening chapters of “The Shadow of a Dream”-when he was fourteen. Each of these Western cities now claims the honor of being immortalized by the Boy, although the Dayton Herald declared, … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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The Shadow Of A Dream

The Shadow Of A Dream – William Dean Howells

‘The Shadow of a Dream’ makes readers familiar with this rather peculiar development of a peculiar subject, and the tragic ending which is so much more pronounced than any other of the real facts of Howells’ novels on which one can decisively lay a finger, as to give the reader an actual shock of horror. This bit of “the stuff that dreams are made of” but gives us an instance of the strange power of dream phantasies over our waking life – a power that more than one of us has felt, and sets us wondering likewise if there is, after all, any definite boundary between sanity and insanity, and whether … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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A Hazard Of New Fortunes

A Hazard Of New Fortunes – William Dean Howells

No one can complain that in this story Mr. Howells has taken his type from the commonplace. It is a study of life in New York, and the author has brought together such a gallery of odd and strongly differentiated characters as could perhaps be found in no other city on the continent, while the conditions and phases of social life represented are not less distinctive and peculiar. The Marches, it is true, are from Boston, but they serve the purpose of external points of observation, whence to note and sufficiently to emphasize those features of our city life which of necessity strike strangers and outsiders most forcibly and with the … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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The Nutcracker And The Mouse-King

The Nutcracker And The Mouse-King – E. T. A. Hoffmann

An absolutely delightful Christmas story by German author E.T.A. Hoffmann tells the story of young Marie Stahlbaum, whose beloved Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, hushes her away to a magical and fantastic kingdom populated by dolls.

The Nutcracker And The Mouse-King

The Nutcracker And The Mouse-King.

Format: eBook.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King.

ISBN: 9783849659295.

 

Excerpt from the text:

 

In the sitting-room of the Doctor’s house, just as you enter the room, there stands on the left hand, close against the wall, a high glass-case, in which the children preserve all the beautiful things which are given to them every year. Louise was Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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Juvenilia

Juvenilia – Jane Austen

The Juvenilia are the early works of Jane Austen, small essays, poems or plays that she compiled in three hand-written notebooks.

Juvenilia

Juvenilia.

Format: eBook.

Juvenilia.

ISBN: 9783849655259

 

 

Excerpt from the text:

 

CHAPTER THE FIRST

Mr. Johnson was once upon a time about 53; in a twelve-month afterwards he was 54, which so much delighted him that he was determined to celebrate his next Birthday by giving a Masquerade to his Children & Freinds. Accordingly on the Day he attained his 55th year, tickets were dispatched to all his Neighbours to that purpose. His acquaintance indeed in that part of the World were not very numerous, as they consisted only of Lady Williams, Mr. … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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The Letters

The Letters – Jane Austen

The letters included in this series comprise about three quarters of the collection in two volumes published in 1884 by her great-nephew Lord Brabourne. The lightness, almost friskiness, of their tone cannot fail to strike the reader. Modern letters written by women are filled more or less with hints and queries; questionings as to the why and the wherefore occur; allusions to the various “fads” of the day, literary or artistic,- Ibsen, Tolstoi, Browning, Esoteric Buddhism, Wagner’s Music, the Mind Cure, Social Science, Causes and Reforms. But Cowper and Crabbe were the poetical sensations in Miss Austen’s time, Scott and Byron its phenomenal novelties; it took months to get most books printed, and years to … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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Persuasion

Persuasion – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

“Persuasion” represents the ripest development of Jane Austen’s powers, that latest phase of her thoughts and feelings. It is a novel which, while not wanting in the several excellences of those which preceded it, has a mellower tone and a more finished grace of style than any of the others. It was written at a time when bodily strength had given place to weakness; and although her mind was more active than ever, her physical condition insensibly influenced her thought, giving this latest of her books that deeper note of feeling, that finer touch of sympathy and tenderness, which make … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

Her style deserves the highest commendation. It has all the form and finish of the eighteenth century, without being in the least degree stilted or unnatural. It has all the tone of good society without being in the least degree insipid. For a specimen of crisp, rich English, combining all the vigour of the masculine with all the delicacy of the feminine style, we suggest the opening chapter of “Northanger Abbey” as a model for any young lady writer of the present age. – T. E. Kebbel.

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey.

Format: eBook.

Northanger Abbey.

ISBN: 9783849655228

 

 

Excerpt from … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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Emma

Emma – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

We, therefore, bestow no mean compliment upon the author of  “Emma,” when we say that, keeping close to common incidents, and to such characters as occupy the ordinary walks of life, she has produced sketches of such spirit and originality, that we never miss the excitation which depends upon a narrative of uncommon events, arising from the consideration of minds, manners and sentiments, greatly above our own. In this class she stands almost alone ; for the scenes of Miss Edgeworth are laid in higher life, varied by more romantic incident, and by her remarkable power of embodying and illustrating … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

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