Outros livros que poderiam interessá-lo

• 

  The Pace of Youth - A complex...

  Stephen Crane

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Stephen Crane was born 1st November, 1871 in Newark, New Jersey and was the eighth surviving child out of fourteen.  Incredibly he began writing at the age of four and was published several times by the age of sixteen.   
   
  Crane only began a full-time education when he was nine but quickly mastered the grades needed to catch up and move forward. Although educated at Lafayette and Syracuse he had little interest in completing university and was keener to move on to a career, declaring college to be ‘a waste of time’.  By twenty he was a reporter and two years later had published his debut novel ‘Maggie: A Girl of the Streets’.  In literary circles this was hailed as the first work of American literary Naturalism.  
   
  Two years later, in 1895, he was the subject of worldwide acclaim for his Civil War novel, written without the benefit of any actual war experiences, ‘The Red Badge of Courage’.  It was indeed a masterpiece and his finest hour.  A year later life began its downwards descent when he became embroiled in a scandal which was to doom his career.  In attempting to help a suspected prostitute being falsely charged by a policeman he became the target of the authorities. 
   
  Later the same year en-route to Cuba as a War Correspondent he met the hotel madam Cora Taylor in Jacksonville, Florida.  This was to become the defining relationship of his life.  Continuing his journey, somewhere between Florida and Cuba his ship sank, and he was cast adrift for several days.  Rescued, he returned to cover conflicts wherever they were situated, some as far away as Greece.  For a time he lived in England with Cora, usually beyond their means, befriending fellow writers such as H G Wells and Joseph Conrad.    
   
  In declining health and beset by money problems, Stephen Crane died of tuberculosis, aged a mere 28 on 5th June 5, 1900, at Badenweiler, Germany. He is buried in New Jersey.

  Ver livro

• 

  Mansfield Park

  Jane Austen

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Mansfield Park is a thoughtful and morally rich novel that examines love, responsibility, and social conscience in early 19th-century England. The story centers on Fanny Price, a quiet and modest young woman who is sent from her impoverished family to live with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park. Raised among privilege yet never fully belonging, Fanny grows up keenly observant of the people and values that surround her.
  
  As the Bertram family and their fashionable friends become entangled in flirtation, ambition, and moral compromise, Fanny's steady principles and inner strength quietly set her apart. Though often overlooked and underestimated, she possesses a deep sense of integrity that contrasts sharply with the charm and recklessness of those around her. When temptation and scandal threaten the harmony of Mansfield Park, Fanny's character is put to the ultimate test.
  
  With subtle irony, emotional depth, and sharp social insight, Jane Austen explores themes of duty, morality, and true affection. Mansfield Park is a compelling and introspective novel that rewards readers with its nuanced portrayal of character and its enduring reflection on what it truly means to live with honor and conviction.

  Ver livro

• 

  The Ambassadors

  Henry James

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "The Ambassadors" is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review (NAR). This dark comedy follows the journey of the protagonist, Lewis Lambert Strether, to Europe. His mission is to bring back the son of his widowed fiancée to the family business. The novel is entirely told from Strether's point of view, chronicling his transformation from an American to a European perspective.

  Ver livro

• 

  A Wagner Matinee - From their...

  Willa Cather

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Willa Sibert Cather had Welsh ancestry but like her parents Charles and Mary, was born in Virginia, on 7th December 1873.  Despite strong roots in the community, Willa was 9, when the family moved to Nebraska, to work the rich soil and avoid TB of which there were numerous outbreaks in Virginia.   
  The vastness and drama of the Nebraska prairie and its’ extreme weather conditions as well as the many diverse cultures of the local families proved to be a major influence on her and can be evidenced in much of her later writing.   
  Her first writing was for the local journal when she was at the University of Nebraska and later became the managing editor of the student newspaper.    
  In 1896 she obtained work for a woman’s magazine in Pittsburgh and soon after became a regular contributor to the Pittsburgh Leader and wrote poetry and short stories for the Library, another local publication.   
  Her first collection of short stories, ‘The Troll Garden’, was published in 1905 and contains several of her most famous including ‘A Wagner Matinee’ and ‘Paul's Case.’ As a writer Cather was now taking immense strides forward.   
  Between 1913 and 1918 Cather wrote her Prairie Trilogy: ‘O Pioneers!’, ‘The Song of the Lark’, and ‘My Ántonia’ and in 1922 the Pulitizer Prize was hers for her novel ‘One of Ours’ set during WWI.  
  Acknowledged as one of America's greatest writers’ further honours flowed. In 1943 she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The following year Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.  
  A determinedly private person, Cather destroyed many old drafts, personal papers, and letters. Her will would also restrict the ability of scholars to quote from personal papers that remained. 
  On 24th April 1947, Willa Siebert Cather died of a cerebral haemorrhage at her Manhattan home. She was 73.

  Ver livro

• 

  Treasure Island (Part 4: The...

  Robert Louis Stevenson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Part 4: The Stockade from Treasure Island:
  "For sheer storytelling delight and pure adventure, Treasure Island has never been surpassed. From the moment young Jim Hawkins first encounters the sinister Blind Pew at the Admiral Benbow Inn until the climactic battle for treasure on a tropic isle, the novel creates scenes and characters that have fired the imaginations of generations of readers. Written by a superb prose stylist, a master of both action and atmosphere, the story centers upon the conflict between good and evil - but in this case a particularly engaging form of evil. It is the villainy of that most ambiguous rogue Long John Silver that sets the tempo of this tale of treachery, greed, and daring. Designed to forever kindle a dream of high romance and distant horizons, Treasure Island is, in the words of G. K. Chesterton, 'the realization of an ideal, that which is promised in its provocative and beckoning map; a vision not only of white skeletons but also green palm trees and sapphire seas.' G. S. Fraser terms it 'an utterly original book' and goes on to write: 'There will always be a place for stories like Treasure Island that can keep boys and old men happy.'

  Ver livro

• 

  The First Men in The Moon

  H. G. Wells

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his "giant leap for mankind" two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating. Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his research, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon. What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect. So why didn't Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat! Herbert George Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography.

  Ver livro