Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

  Mark Twain

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  Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a coming-of-age story about a young boy named Huck Finn and his friend, Jim, a runaway slave. The story follows Huck and Jim as they journey down the Mississippi River on a raft, encountering various people and animals along the way. The novel is notable for its use of vernacular language and its depiction of American culture during the 19th century.

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  The Scapegoat - From their pens...

  Paul Laurence Dunbar

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  Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27th, 1872 in Dayton Ohio. His parents had been slaves in Kentucky before the Civil War.  
  Dunbar wrote his first poem at age 6 and gave his first public recital at age 9. By 16 he was already published as a poet in ‘The Herald’, a local newspaper. 
  After completing his formal schooling in 1891, Dunbar was employed as an elevator operator, at $4 a week. His hopes of a legal career floundered on a lack of funds and racial discrimination. However, he wrote his poetry and took every opportunity to publish. In 1892 his employers sent him to the United Brethren Publishing House which, in 1893, printed his dialect poetry, ‘Oak and Ivy; Dunbar subsidized the printing and earned back his investment in two weeks by selling copies himself. 
  Dunbar also wrote the lyrics for ‘In Dahomey’, the first musical written and performed entirely by African Americans. It was produced on Broadway in 1903; and then toured England and the United States for four years. 
  After returning from a literary tour of United Kingdom, Dunbar married Alice Ruth Moore on March 6th, 1898. She was a teacher and poet from New Orleans. Dunbar called her "the sweetest, smartest little girl I ever saw". Alice would become as famous as Paul during her life for her own literary works. 
  In 1900, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and his doctors recommended drinking whisky to alleviate his symptoms.  The couple moved to Colorado as the cold, dry mountain air was considered favorable for his health. Dunbar and Alice separated in 1902, but never divorced. But Depression and declining health drove him to depend on alcohol, and health deteriorated. 
  His short career was prolific; a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, four novels, lyrics for ‘In Dahomey’, and a play. Dunbar’s essays and poems were published widely in leading journals including ‘Harper's Weekly’ and ‘The Saturday Evening Post’.  He was also a committed civil rights activist. 
  In 1904 he returned to Dayton to be with his mother.  
  Paul Laurence Dunbar died of tuberculosis on February 9th, 1906, at the age of only thirty-three.

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  Morals (Moralia) Book 2

  Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus

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  The Moralia (loosely translatable as "Matters relating to customs") of the 1st-century Greek scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea is an eclectic collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They give an insight into Roman and Greek life, but often are also fascinating timeless observations in their own right. Many generations of Europeans have read or imitated them, including Montaigne and the Renaissance Humanists and Enlightenment philosophers. The Moralia include "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great" — an important adjunct to his Life of the great general — "On the Worship of Isis and Osiris" (a crucial source of information on Egyptian religious rites), and "On the Malice of Herodotus" (which may, like the orations on Alexander's accomplishments, have been a rhetorical exercise), in which Plutarch criticizes what he sees as systematic bias in the Father of History's work; along with more philosophical treatises, such as "On the Decline of the Oracles", "On the Delays of the Divine Vengeance", "On Peace of Mind" and lighter fare, such as "Odysseus and Gryllus", a humorous dialog between Homer's Odysseus and one of Circe's enchanted pigs. The Moralia were composed first, while writing the Lives occupied much of the last two decades of Plutarch's own life. Some editions of the Moralia include several works now known to be pseudepigrapha: among these are the "Lives of the Ten Orators" (biographies of the Ten Orators of ancient Athens, based on Caecilius of Calacte), "The Doctrines of the Philosophers", and "On Music". One "pseudo-Plutarch" is held responsible for all of these works, though their authorship is of course unknown. Though the thoughts and opinions recorded are not Plutarch's and come from a slightly later era, they are all classical in origin and have value to the historian. The book is also famously the first reference to the problem of the chicken and the egg. (Summary adapted from the Wikipedia)

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  Notes from the Underground

  Fyodor Dostoevsky

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  Dostoevsky's novella " Notes from the Underground" is part embittered monologue and part brief descriptions of anecdotes from the anonymous writer's life. As the author himself states: 
  "The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course, imaginary. Nevertheless it is clear that such persons as the writer of these notes not only may, but positively must, exist in our society, when we consider the circumstances in the midst of which our society is formed." 
  The Russia of the mid 19th century was a period in which the society was awash with a myriad of philosophical ideas as it became increasingly influenced by the West. The writer instinctively reacts against Utopian ideals and sees in himself the proof that such a philosophy is doomed.   
  Head Stories Audio presents "Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

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  Two Tales from Sir Arthur Conan...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. Here are two of his best stories, The New Catacomb and The Beetle-Hunter.

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  Eben Holden - A Tale of the...

  Irving Bacheller

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  Eben Holden - A Tale of the North Country. Having lost both parents and his home in northern Vermont, orphan Willie Brower is taken in by Eben Holden, "Uncle Eb" who transports him westward to save him from being sent to an orphanage. Through the Adirondacks and into the St. Lawrence valley they travel. Eben is kind, happy, and loves to tell stories to the youngster, many of which were to shape the life and ideals of Willie during his life.This story follows Willie as a young orphan, later as a journalist, and finally as a soldier who enlists in the army at the outset of the American Civil War. The book was immensely popular when it was published in 1900 and the years to follow, as the characters were all drawn from people who the author had known himself. (Summary by Roger Melin)

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