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  Fascist as Author The - A Short...

  Knut Hamsun, Luigi Pirandello,...

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  Authors are authors and we are drawn to their works because of their style, their narrative, and their characters and how each part is assembled into the arc of the whole. 
   
  But are we?  Do social conventions, or fashion or other influences decide what we read or what we listen to? 
   
  Its famously said that everyone has a story, everyone should be heard. 
   
  So, when we discover a particular author has a dark past, a difficult character, what do we do?   
   
  Europe was in the last century riven by two catastrophic world wars and a myriad of other local ones.  And like good citizens everywhere our thoughts are stilled by the word ‘Fascist’.  This word which originally meant many strands held together to make a stronger whole is now a one word response to evil and work done in its name. 
   
  In this volume our approach has been to take authors of then great renown, two of whom won the Nobel Prize, and compile a work from each which is seen in a literary context rather than in the heinous shadow of their political and social beliefs.   
   
  We are taught that authors write of their own experiences, but is that really true?  Can an author be separated from their nihilistic approach to politics and actually be a good writer who adds to our knowledge and experience rather than taint us with their reprehensible beliefs on their fellow man. 
   
  Its an ongoing argument.  Perhaps both sides are right.  Perhaps both sides are wrong.

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  Mark Twain: The Short Stories

  Mark Twain

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  Mark Twain – An Introduction.  Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835 and is far better known by his pen name; Mark Twain.  An American author and humorist of the first order he is perhaps most famous for his novels, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, written in 1876, and its sequel, The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, written in 1885 and often described with that mythic line - "the Great American Novel."  Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the backdrop for these great novels. Apprenticed to a printer he also worked as a typesetter but eventually became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Later, heading west with his brother, Orion to make his fortune he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and found his true calling as a writer of humorous stories.  It on these shorter stories that this volume dwells.  His wit and humour sparkle from every page, his craft evident with every phase and punctured target.   Twain was born during a visit by Halley's Comet, and predicted that he would "go out with it" as well. He died the day following the comet's subsequent return in 1910. These stories are read for you by Stuart Milligan.

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  Bran Mak Morn - The Last King

  Robert E. Howard

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  From Robert E. Howard's fertile imagination sprang some of fiction's greatest heroes, including Conan the Cimmerian, King Kull, and Solomon Kane. But of all Howard's characters, none embodied his creator's brooding temperament more than Bran Mak Morn, the last king of a doomed race.In ages past, the Picts ruled all of Europe. But the descendants of those proud conquerors have sunk into barbarism...all save one: Bran Mak Morn, whose bloodline remains unbroken. Threatened by the Celts and the Romans, the Pictish tribes rally under his banner to fight for their very survival, while Bran fights to restore the glory of his race.This collection gathers together all of Howard's published stories featuring Bran Mak Morn: "Men of the Shadows," "Kings of the Night," "A Song of the Race," "Worms of the Earth," "The Dark Man," and "The Lost Race."

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  A Royal Compliment

  Mark Twain

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  The story "A Royal Compliment" by Mark Twain was included in the collection "The Curious Republic of Gondour and Other Whimsical Sketches". In Twain's stories we can find notes of social satire. He traveled a lot and understood, how imperfect are humans. In this story the author speculates on politic. Despite his tragic life Mark Twain argues always with humour on problems of world politics.  In "A Royal Compliment" he touches upon actual problems of the Spanish society. The narrator buys a newspaper and reads an article about the Spanish king. He considers himself to be the best contender to this title. Then he speculates about Spain. The Spaniards tend to choose their King from another countries. They keep the ports fast locked against foreign traffic three-fourths of each year, to prevent different diseases, but at the same time they violate rules of hygiene. On the other side, the author recognizes achievements of the Spain nation. But he makes it in such ironical way, which will let the reader burst out laughing. Get acquainted with this story, and enjoy the brilliant stile of the author.A SmartTouch Media production.

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  Markheim

  Robert Louis Stevenson

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  Occasionally an author appears who, in a short career, emblazons a legacy so bright and so distinct, as well as popular that it is difficult to believe it is the output of only one man. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was such a talent. 
   
  Stevenson was born on 13th November 1850 in Edinburgh.  Despite a late start to reading and writing he was a voracious story-teller, regularly performing yarns for all those around him.  His health though was poorly, he suffered lifelong bronchial problems and was incapacitated by this and other ailments throughout his life. 
   
  In Grez, France in September 1876 he met the American, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. She was married with children but distress and anger at her husband's infidelities led to several separations. By the time she met Stevenson she was already a promising short-story writer. 
   
  In 1880 she was at last free to re marry and life, despite his health issues, was good.  In the ensuing years travel and exploration would be their calling and the source of his literary inspiration. 
   
  Classics flowed; in 1881 ‘The Body Snatcher’.  In 1883 ‘Treasure Island’, followed 3 years later by ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. 
    
  In 1890, they settled on an estate in Samoa for what would be a last great burst of writing that coincided with his political awakening as the islands moved toward inter-clan warfare as greedy outside powers stoked tensions.    
   
  Over the course of his prolific career Stevenson had not only given his audience many classic novels but beautiful poetry such as ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ and many short stories as with his dark classic of Christmas Day ‘Markheim’ (1884). 
   
  Robert Louis Stevenson died at his island home at Valima in Samoa on 3rd December 1894.  He was 44.

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  Portrait of a Lady

  Jerome K.

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  An enchantingly sentimental tale of a traveller who finds a very beautiful miniature portrait of a young woman in his temporary lodgings.Seeking to learn more about the beauty, he eventually comes across some personal papers which reveal the tragedy of her life. Now all he needs to do is find out her identity....

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