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  South of the Slot - Iconic...

  Jack London

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  John Griffith Chaney was born on January 12th, 1876 in San Francisco.   
   
  His father, William Chaney, was living with Flora Wellman when she became pregnant.  Chaney insisted she have an abortion.  Flora's response was to turn a gun on herself.  Although her wounds were not severe the trauma made her temporarily deranged. 
   
  In late 1876 his mother married John London and the young child was brought to live with them as they moved around the Bay area, eventually settling in Oakland where now, calling himself Jack, he completed grade school. 
   
  Jack worked hard at several jobs, sometimes 12-18 hours a day, but his dream was university.  He studied hard and borrowed the money to enrol in the summer of 1896 at the University of California in Berkeley. 
   
  In 1897, at 21, Jack searched out newspaper accounts of his mother's suicide attempt and for the name of his biological father. He wrote to Chaney, then living in Chicago, who claimed he could not be Jack’s father because he was impotent and casually asserted that London's mother had relations with other men.  Jack, devastated by the response, quit Berkeley and went to the Klondike. Other accounts suggest that his dire finances presented Jack with the excuse he needed to leave. 
   
  In the Klondike Jack began to gather material for his writing but also accumulated many health problems, including scurvy, which together with hip and leg problems he would carry for the rest of his life. 
   
  During the late 1890's Jack was regularly publishing short stories and by the turn of the century full blown novels. 
   
  By 1904 Jack had married, fathered two children and was now in the process of divorcing.  A stint as a reporter on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was equal amounts trouble and experience. But that experience was always put to good use in a continuing and remarkable output of work. 
   
  In 1905 he married Charmian Kittredge who at last was a soul and companion who brought him some semblance of peace despite his advancing alcoholism and his incurable wanderlust. 
   
  Twelve years later Jack had amassed both wealth and a literary reputation through such classics as ‘The Call of the Wild’, ‘White Fang’ and many others. He had a reputation as a social activist and was a tireless friend of the workers.   
   
  Jack London died suffering from dysentery, late-stage alcoholism and uremia, aged only 40, on November 22nd 1916 at his property in Glen Elen in California 
   
  In ‘South of the Slot’ Jack London reveals yet another facet of his writing talents. In turn of the Century San Francisco, a Professor of Sociology explores the working-class neighbourhoods gradually revealing an alter-ego with his Union loving personality and name.  The question is which is his real character.

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  Fir Tree The (Unabridged)

  Hans Christian Andersen

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  "The Fir-Tree" is a literary fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). The tale is about a fir tree so anxious to grow up, so anxious for greater things, that he cannot appreciate living in the moment. The tale was first published 21 December 1844 with "The Snow Queen", in Copenhagen, Denmark, by C.A. Reitzel. One scholar (Andersen biographer Jackie Wullschlager) indicates that "The Fir-Tree" was the first of Andersen's fairy tales to express a deep pessimism.

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  American Short Story The -...

  Mark Twain, Henry James, Kate...

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  The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. 
   
  From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. 
   
  America prides itself on liberty, on justice for all and, if you are a wealthy white man, that is essentially true.  Sadly, many other segments of society find it difficult to feel or become part of this endeavour. 
   
  Within this chronological history of the American short story, that prejudice has helped shape the borders of those two endless questions about any anthology.  Why that story? Why that Author? 
   
  We made some hard choices.  We start with Uriah Derrick Dárcy, an unlikely American name and, to all intents, it appears to be a pseudonym, about whom little is known or can be verified. He leads our literary parade.  From here leviathans appear on a regular basis; Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, Twain but also note how many women are here and not just Stowe, Alcott and Chopin.  Women’s status as writers is often neglected or undervalued, predominantly due to their second-class social status throughout much of history but their stories, their angles of approach to writing are both expertly crafted and refreshing.   
   
  Another stain on the social and cultural fabric of American has been that of Race.  Black people were harshly and unfairly treated as a matter of course.  The Civil War may have opened the door but in reality little changed.  The majority of the stories included here written by black authors are disturbing in the wrongs they were accused of, and the burdens they were forced to carry.  This eye-opening literature enables us to once more take stock and applaud and bring some glimmers of recognition to their struggles and their art.  
   
  There are some authors, liberally sprinkled throughout, both male and female who may previously have escaped your attention.  Enjoy them.  Adore them.  Make them part of your everyday reading and listening.  These forgotten voices are fine examples both of their craft, their art, and their take on society as it was then. 
   
  In the period we cover from the late 18th Century, around the time of the American Revolution, up until the catastrophe of World War 2, the printing press was creating a market to share words.  With industrialization and a large swathe of people eager to be distracted from hard working lives, a plethora of magazines and periodicals shot up, all clamoring for works to publish, to share those words, to introduce new ideas and explain how some of us view ourselves and each other.  Some of these authors were only published that way, one story wonders—hitched to the fading star of a disposable periodical.   
   
  And, of course, the elephant in the room was the English.  In its early days US copyright law was non-existent and didn’t recognise anyone else’s.  Publishers were free to take the talents of Dickens or Trollope and freely print it without permission or coin.   Competing against that, gave you a decided disadvantage. 
   
  Within these stories you will also find very occasional examples of historical prejudice.  A few words here and there which in today’s world some may find inappropriate or even offensive.  It is not our intention to make anyone uncomfortable but to show that the world in order to change must reconcile itself to the actual truth rather than put it out of sight.  Context is everything, both to understand and to illuminate the path forward.  The author’s words are set, our reaction to them encourages our change. 
   
  Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: The American short story Literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.  Which is here

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  Diary of a Nobody

  George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith

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  An english comic novel, The Diary of a Nobody, reproduces the diary entries of one Charles Pooter, a city clerk, his scrapes, his attempts to reach high society, his despair of his son ever finding a decent position, of his friends Cummings and Gowing, and numerous comic adventures and misadventures in the 19th century middle class. The Diary made its initial appearance as an intermittent serial in the satirical weekly magazine Punch. Although its critical and popular success was not evident until the third edition appeared in October 1910. After the First World War the book's popularity continued to grow; regular reprintings and new editions ensured that thereafter the book was never out of print, It has subsequently been hailed by Belloc as "one of the half-dozen immortal achievements of our time" 
  Narrated by Michael Ward.

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  Martin Chuzzlewit

  Charles Dickens

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  This Charles Dickens classic is the powerful satiric novel of selfish hypocrisy and financial speculation as it bloomed in insular England and in the spacious but narrow minds of the U.S. It is a novel that has retains its relevance to today’s issues.

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  The Pond

  Carl Ewald

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  "The Pond" by Carl Ewald begins with a pair of warblers in Italy as they meet and agree to travel home to their pond, build a nest, and raise a family. At the pond, its other residents make themselves known. An eel, a cray-fish, a water-spider, a carp, and countless other creatures make the area a vibrant community. This book shows that no matter how peaceful a place might look from the outside, no one can understand just how much chaos might lurk beneath the surface.

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