Weitere Bücher, die Sie mögen werden

• 

  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Henry James, Mark Twain, Booth...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  A new century dawns, one in which America would become pre-eminent as its industrial might and military power rose above all others.  In literature too its authors tackled new forms and new ideas, they shied away from little, immersing themselves and their readers in the promise of a new Century.   
   
  1 - The Top 10 - The 1900's - The Americans - An Introduction 
  2 - The Great Good Place by Henry James 
  3 - Eve's Diary by Mark Twain 
  4 - To Build a Fire by Jack London 
  5 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
  6 - The Gift of the Magi by O Henry 
  7 - The Scapegoat by Paul Laurence Dunbar 
  8 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane 
  9 - The Defense of Strikerville by Damon Runyon 
  10 - The Screaming Skull by F Marion Crawford 
  11 - Ariel's Triumph by Booth Tarkington

  Zum Buch

• 

  The Lightning-Rod Man

  Herman Melville

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  After spending the summer of 1853 in the Berkshire Mountains, where he supposedly had a real life encounter with a lightning-rod salesman, Melville published “The Lightning-Rod Man." At the end of this short story, the lightning-rod salesman is exposed for the fraud that he is. However, that will not keep his successors from fanning out to the Middle West, where lightning storms abound and farmers were gullible. On another level, the story can be interpreted as a confrontation between Good and Evil. Through description and diction, the narrator is understood as a follower of God, someone who believes in The Almighty watching over him. On the other hand, the lightning-rod man is seen as a negative character, someone who only has faith in the product he's peddling.

  Zum Buch

• 

  3 Stories About - Charity - A...

  Zona Gale, May Sinclair, T S Arthur

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  There is something about the number 3.    
   
  The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.   
   
  Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois.  It seems good things usually come in threes. 
   
  Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. 
   
  From their pens to your your ears.

  Zum Buch

• 

  A Capitalist - From their pens...

  George Gissing

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  George Robert Gissing was born on November 22nd, 1857 in Wakefield, Yorkshire.  
  He was educated at Back Lane School in Wakefield. Gissing loved school. He was enthusiastic with a thirst for learning and always diligent.  By the age of ten he was reading Dickens, a lifelong hero. 
  In 1872 Gissing won a scholarship to Owens College. Whilst there Gissing worked hard but remained solitary. Unfortunately, he had run short of funds and stole from his fellow students. He was arrested, prosecuted, found guilty, expelled and sentenced to a month's hard labour in 1876. 
  On release he decided to start over.  In September 1876 he travelled to the United States. Here he wrote short stories for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers. On his return home he was ready for novels. 
  Gissing self-published his first novel but it failed to sell.  His second was acquired but never published. His writing career was static.  Something had to change.  And it did. 
  By 1884 The Unclassed was published.  Now everything he wrote was published. Both Isabel Clarendon and Demos appeared in 1886. He mined the lives of the working class as diligently as any capitalist. 
  In 1889 Gissing used the proceeds from the sale of The Nether World to go to Italy. This trip formed the basis for his 1890 work The Emancipated. 
  Gissing's works began to command higher payments. New Grub Street (1891) brought a fee of £250.  
  Short stories followed and in 1895, three novellas were published; Eve's Ransom, The Paying Guest and Sleeping Fires. Gissing was careful to keep up with the changing attitudes of his audience.  
  Unfortunately, he was also diagnosed as suffering from emphysema. The last years of his life were spent as a semi-invalid in France but he continued to write. 1899; The Crown of Life. Our Friend the Charlatan appeared in 1901, followed two years later by The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft. 
  George Robert Gissing died aged 46 on December 28th, 1903 after catching a chill on a winter walk.

  Zum Buch

• 

  The Lonely God - A Short Story

  Agatha Christie

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In the quiet halls of the British Museum, a forgotten stone idol sits unnoticed on a high shelf—its features eroded by time, its purpose long-lost. But for Frank Oliver, a lonely man recently returned to England, the little god becomes something more: a symbol of connection in a world that has passed him by. 
  When Frank notices a young woman visiting the same statue, day after day, something begins to shift. In their quiet devotion to a nameless figure, two strangers begin to find the possibility of something else—companionship, perhaps even love. 
  Agatha Christie’s The Lonely God is a tender and thoughtful departure from her usual crime stories. In this short tale, she explores isolation, identity, and unexpected human connection with quiet grace. 
  Perfect for fans of classic literature, character-driven stories, and emotional fiction with a hint of mystery.

  Zum Buch

• 

  The Masque of the Red Death

  Edgar Allan Poe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Step into the haunting world of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, a gothic masterpiece that explores the illusion of safety, the inevitability of death, and the futility of escaping fate. Set against the backdrop of a deadly plague, this chilling allegory follows Prince Prospero as he retreats into a lavish abbey with his courtiers, hoping to avoid the Red Death. Poe’s vivid imagery, symbolic use of color, and masterful suspense create a powerful meditation on mortality that continues to captivate readers over a century later. Perfect for fans of dark fiction, philosophical horror, and classic American literature.

  Zum Buch