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  Arcadian London (Unabridged)

  Charles Dickens

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  Charles Dickens was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.ARCADIAN LONDON: The retreat into which I have withdrawn myself, is Bond-street. From this lonely spot I make pilgrimages into the surrounding wilderness, and traverse extensive tracts of the Great Desert.

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  The Voice in the Night

  William Hope Hodgson

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  William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction stories. "The Voice in the Night" is an uncanny story about a ship becalmed in fog in the middle of the Pacific. In the night, the watch hears a voice hailing the ship. It would seem to be a lone man in a rowing boat, but the individual does not wish to be seen. He is starving and urgently wants them to give him food - but despite this, he will not approach the ship and vehemently rejects the idea of being rescued. Instead they have to float some provisions out to him in a crate, which he takes off to a nearby island where his fiancée is dying of hunger. A few hours later he returns and tells a horrifying and incredible tale.

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  The Christmas Tree and the Wedding

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) is recognised as one of the greats of Russian literature. Soon after his 1843 graduation from the School of Engineering in St. Petersburg, the young Dostoyevsky abandoned his career to devote himself to literature. He quickly became a popular, recognised author, but in the unstable political environment of the time, he was accused of conspiracy, and in 1849 he was sentenced to ten years' hard labour in Siberia. On his return from prison, he recommenced writing, this time with a new poignancy, depth of psychological insight, and vibrant character study, all drawn from his Siberian experience."The Christmas Tree and the Wedding" is an excellent example of Dostoyevsky's masterful storytelling and character portrayal and is widely recognised as one of the true great classic short stories.

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  Mademoiselle Fifi

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Set during the Franco-Prussian war, de Maupassant's story tells of a group of German soldiers occupying and gradually vandalising a stately home in Normandy. Bored of the dull location and incessant rain, the group of young officers decide to send to the nearest town for a group of prostitutes, so that they can hold an orgiastic dinner party. Among the women is the spirited young Rachel, whose willingness to fraternize with the Prussians is put to the test, with catastrophic results.

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  Guy de Maupassant - A Short...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
   
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
   
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
   
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
   
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
   
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
   
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
   
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that  
  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42. 
  1 - Guy de Maupassant - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - The Piece of String  
  3 - Two Little Soldiers  
  4 - Two Friends 
  5 - Suicides  
  6 - The Grave 
  7 - An Uncomfortable Bed 
  8 - Regret 
  9 - Love 
  10 - The Kiss 
  11 - The Dowry 
  12 - The Vendetta 
  13 - A Dead Woman's Secret 
  14 - Mother Sauvage

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  Rise of Historical Criticism The...

  Oscar Wild

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  Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 - 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s.THE RISE OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM: This Essay was written for the Chancellor's English Essay Prize at Oxford in 1879, the subject being 'Historical Criticism among the Ancients.' The prize was not awarded. To Professor J. W. Mackail thanks are due for revising the proofs.

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