Traducteur J.M. Rigg
Maison d'édition: Charles River Editors
Boccaccio's The Decameron consists of 100 tales, and is one of the most celebrated literary works of the Renaissance.
This 1914 novel of frontier romance by “the greatest Western writer of all time” was the basis for the classic film starring Victor Jory (Jackson Cain, author of Hellbreak Country).Feeling constrained by her high-society life back east, Madeline Hammond decides to join her brother Alfred at his cattle ranch in El Cajon, New Mexico. But she gets a rude introduction to frontier living when she encounters a drunken cowboy named Gene Stewart. Though his rough demeanor is a shock to Madeline’s refined sensibilities, she comes to realize that he means no harm—and soon learns there are far worse characters for her to worry about. There are some bad men who would do anything to see Alfred run off his land. While Gene tries to prove to Madeline that he can change for the better, tensions in El Cajon are on the rise. And when violence breaks out, Madeline discovers courage matters a lot more than manners on the frontierVoir livre
Witches, devils, the undead—all kinds of supernatural beings haunt the folk tales of Russia. In this story, a grief-stricken young man seeks to outwit the Devil in order to save his father’s soul. Listen to this spooky story today. It’s Russian folklore told in English.Voir livre
"Bleak March in Epping Forest" by H. G. Wells is a short essay. H. G. Wells once different, humorous social satire and ironic.All along the selvage of Epping Forest there was excitement. Before the swallows, before the violets, long before the cuckoo, with only untimely honeysuckle bushes showing a trace of green, two trippers had been seen traversing the district, making their way towards High Beech, and settling awhile near the Forest Hotel.Voir livre
Washington Irving was born on 3rd April, 1783, the youngest of 11, in New York. Irving found his real interests away from school in literature and the theatre. An outbreak of yellow fever at 15 moved him away from Manhattan and into the surrounding countryside providing valuable settings for later works such as ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. By 19 Irving was writing regularly to the New York Morning Chronicle, commenting on the theatrical and social scenes. When his health began to fail, he was sent on the Grand Tour of Europe. Bizarrely he ignored most of the great sights on offer to concentrate on developing his social and conversational powers. His health, though, did improve. In 1806, back in New York to study law, he scraped a pass at the bar and then founded with several others the literary magazine Salmagundi. Irving nicknamed the city ‘Gotham City’, a name still in use today. Moderately successful, the magazine spread Irving’s reputation beyond New York. In 1809 while mourning the death of his teenage fiancée Irving finished his first significant book, ‘A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynsasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker’. It satirised local history, local historians and politics. It received great critical acclaim. Unfortunately his family’s established trading company was now facing great upheavals and Irving was dispatched to England to try to sort it out. After two years he could see no way out but bankruptcy. This left him in England with no real employment prospects, and so he returned to writing. He sent some short stories back to New York to be published as ‘The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent’. The first part included ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and was extremely successful. The sixth part contained ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. Beset by literary piracy, with no copyright law at the time, he set about publishing legitimate copies in England to outwit the bootleggers. From now on Irving published concurrently in America and England in order to render piracy obsolete. In August 1824, he published ‘Tales of a Traveller’, which included the famed ‘The Devil and Tom Walker’. In 1826, the American Minister to Spain, invited him to Madrid where he could examine the many historical documents that he had access to. Irving reveled in both the size of the libraries he was granted access to and their rich quality. Historical works flowed from his pen further enhancing his reputation and fortune. Following the completion of ‘Tales of the Alhambra’ in 1832, Irving returned to America after 17 years abroad. He was now a figurehead of American literature and dispensed advice to Edgar Allan Poe amongst others. Irving also became an advocate for American copyright legislation. A later appointment as Minister to Spain in 1842 left him disheartened at the antics of the various political factions he encountered. It also afforded him no time to write as he had hoped. On his return home he began an ‘Author’s Revised Edition’ of his works agreeing an unprecedented deal for 12 per cent of the retail profits. Washington Irving died of a heart attack at his ‘Sunnyside’ home on the 28th November 1859 at the age of 76, a few months after completing his five volume George Washington biography, in whose honour he had been named. ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ is a story almost everyone has encountered. An enormous success at the time it is now an undeniable American Spooky classic.Voir livre
Andrew Lang (1844 – 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. "The Frog" is a variant on the Frog Princess. Three brothers are told by their mother to set specific tasks for their sweethearts to complete, to see whether they will make suitable brides. The youngest lad does not know any girls, but a mystery frog proves amazingly adept at all the trials set her by her future mother-in-law.Voir livre
In his "Ghostly little book," Charles Dickens invents the modern concept of Christmas Spirit and offers one of the world's most adapted and imitated stories. We know Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, not only as fictional characters, but also as icons of the true meaning of Christmas in a world still plagued with avarice and cynicism.Voir livre
