Other books that might interest you

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  Two Sides of Life (Unabridged)

  Booker T. Washington

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  Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 - November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African American community and of the contemporary black elite. Washington was from the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants. They were newly oppressed in the South by disenfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in the post-Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.TWO SIDES OF LIFE: There are quite a number of divisions into which life can be divided, but for the purposes of this evening I am going to speak of two; the bright side of life and the dark side.

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  Bartleby the Scrivener

  Herman Melville

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  Herman Melville was born in New York City on 1st August 1819.   
   
  At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which permanently diminished his eyesight. Add this to a contemporary description of being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension" and his opportunities for success seemed limited. 
   
  His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. 2 years later Melville took a job in a bank and followed up with a failed stint as a surveyor. He went to sea and travelled across to Liverpool and then to the Pacific on adventures which included a mutiny, being jailed and falling in love with a South Pacific beauty. He was also a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion.  These experiences helped provide the novels ‘Typee’, ‘Omoo’, and ‘White-Jacket’. 
   
  By 1851 his ambitious masterpiece, ‘Moby Dick’, was ready to be published.  It never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville’s earnings on his masterpiece was a mere $556.37. 
   
  In succeeding years his reputation waned, life was increasingly difficult.  His family was growing and a stable income was essential. Melville took the advice of friends to try public lecturing, as others had, to increase his revenues. He embarked on three successful lecture tours, speaking on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome.  
   
  In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem ‘Clarel’. It was to no avail.  The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. 
   
  It was only in late 1885 that Melville was at last able to retire after his wife inherited several legacies, enough to provide them with a reasonable income. 
   
   
  Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on 28th September 1891 from cardiovascular disease. 
   
  Perhaps his best known short story is ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’ an enduring story of a Wall Street lawyer and his very particular assistant.

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  The Overcoat - A Nikolai Gogol...

  Nikolái Gógol

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  The author of Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky said, "We all come out from Gogol's the Overcoat." The story centers on an impoverished clerk who is dedicated to his job as a routine copyist though not recognized for his hard work. Younger clerks mock him for his dedication. His threadbare overcoat is mocked, as he is. He saves to get a new one and wears it for a glorious evening, only to have it stolen that night. He dies soon thereafter from his great loss. Thereafter his ghost is reported to haunt that part of St. Petersburg where the coat was stolen.  The story of a lowly clerk, or Russian, come to nothing was a theme of Gogol and many other 19th century Russian writers.

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  The Lays of Marie de France

  Marie de France

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  The 12 Lays of Marie de France offer one of the most striking collections of short narrative poems of the 12th century - two centuries before Chaucer.  Written in Anglo-French, they contain beguiling and entertaining stories of love and romance, of chivalry and adventure with sometimes even a magical twist. They are especially unique in early literature by being ascribed to a female poet, Marie de France: in the very first Lay - 'Guigemar' - is the introductory line: ‘Hear my Lords, what Marie says, who does not wish to be forgotten in her time.' In this modern prose translation by Edward J. Gallagher, professor of French studies, Wheaton College, Norton Massachusets, the vigour and spirit of the Lays is foremost, balanced by gentle poetry and story-telling. Professor Gallagher, in his introduction, explains: ‘If Chrétien de Troyes' five romances and the two Old French versions of the Tristan story constitute the medieval precursors of the modern novel, The Lays can be considered the medieval antecedents of the modern short story. What is undeniable is Marie de France's place in literary history as the most accomplished writer of lays.' Each of the Lays focuses on some extraordinary adventure involving in all cases a problematic love relationship in a chivalric society. The geographic setting is frequently, but not exclusively, Britain or continental Brittany. These are tales of honourable love, adulterous love, old men attempting to guard young wives, betrayal, hope and despair. Often, strict moral codes expected by the Church of the time are flouted as love conquers all. The Lays are read engagingly by Georgina Sutton. A short introduction leading to the Lays, and scholarly notes to conclude by Professor Gallagher are read by David Rintoul.

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  Curried Cow

  Ambrose Bierce

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  My Aunt Patience, who tilled a small farm in the state of Michigan, had a favorite cow. This creature was not a good cow, nor a profitable one, for instead of devoting a part of her leisure to secretion of milk and production of veal she concentrated all her faculties on the study of kicking.The demon cow of Michigan will attack any living being she comes across...and when Aunt Patience resolves to marry, every single man in the county goes to extreme lengths to become unavailable for the honour. Such was their fear of being married alive by my Aunt Patience.Finally she does wed a Methodist parson by the name of Huggins. This is the story of one man's battle against the most ferocious cow in Michigan.

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  Short Stories Collection - The...

  Edgar Allan Poe, Oregan Publishing

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  Oregan Publishing presents: Short Stories Collection. The works included are: "The Raven", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Annabel Lee", and "The Pit and the Pendulum".

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