Genre Other. Page - 369
Description
This Side of Paradise chronicles the coming of age of Amory Blaine, born to a wealthy midwestern family. It begins with Amory as a spoiled youth, doted on by his eccentric mother Beatrice. It follows him as he attends preparatory school and Princeton, and then briefly attempts but quickly abandons at a career in advertising. His service in World War I is mentioned but mostly glossed over. Covered in much more detail are his various romances: youthful dalliances, a correspondence-based relationship that ends as soon as the couple spends time together in person, a deep love with the debutante sister of one of his close friends, and an intense summer fling.
The book shows Amory’s attempts to define himself as a person and find his place in a world rapidly changing through World War, the “Jazz Age,” and Prohibition. It provides the reader with a good picture of what life was like for a privileged young man of the era.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise was published in 1920 when he was 23 years old, and was widely praised by critics. The semi-autobiographical work launched his career as one of America’s most well-known writers. As a direct result of the publishing of the novel, Zelda Sayre (the inspiration for the character of the debutante Rosalind Connage) agreed to marry Fitzgerald. The couple became an icon of the excesses of the Jazz Age.
Description
It would be hard to nominate a more well-known character in English literature than that of the austere analytical detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1880s. Holmes, alongside his friend and biographer Dr. John Watson, appeared in two initial novels and dozens of short stories serialized in popular magazines, attracting a devoted, almost fanatical following which continues to this day.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, serialized in 1901–1902, was the third novel featuring Holmes and Watson. Sherlock Holmes is consulted in his Baker Street apartment by Dr. Mortimer, a physician now living on the fringes of Dartmoor. He gives Holmes and Watson an account of a centuries-old legend, in which a hell-hound slaughtered the debauched heir of the Baskerville family who had been in lecherous pursuit of an innocent maiden across the moor. The same hound is reputed to have harrowed several of the subsequent heirs to the estate.
This ancient story might be dismissed as mere fancy, but for the fact that the elderly Sir Charles Baskerville recently died in very mysterious circumstances, apparently fleeing in terror from something which came from the moor. Dr. Mortimer is concerned that the new heir, Sir Henry, just returned from Canada, may be at risk from this supernatural beast. Holmes is intrigued, but being too busy to go himself, sends Dr. Watson to accompany Sir Henry to the ancestral home on Dartmoor and to report anything suspicious.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is arguably the best, and certainly the most popular, of Doyle’s novels featuring his iconic detective. It has been translated into almost every language in the world and been the basis of dozens of movies (starting as early as 1914), radio plays and comic books.
Description
In a Glass Darkly is a collection of five short stories, presented as posthumous papers of cases of the “metaphysical” doctor Dr. Martin Hesselius. First appearing in “Green Tea,” originally published in 1869, Dr. Hesselius became one of the first literary occult detectives.
J. Sheridan Le Fanu often made revisions to his work and re-released several under new names, including two from In a Glass Darkly: “The Familiar,” a revised version of “The Watcher,” published in 1851, and “Mr. Justice Harbottle,” a revised version of “An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street,” published in 1853.
Most notably, this collection includes what is likely Sheridan Le Fanu’s most famous work, “Carmilla.” A young countess turned vampire, Countess Mircalla uses the anagram of her name, Carmilla, to disguise herself in order to prey on unsuspecting young women. “Carmilla” would heavily influence Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which would later become the prototypical vampire archetype.
Description
Wodehouse once described his writing as “musical comedy without music,” and Love Among the Chickens is one of the earliest examples of his trademark style. The narrator, Jeremy Garnet, is a mild-mannered author attempting to finish his next novel in peace and quiet. Enter Stanley Ukridge, a man brimming with endless schemes, who draws the narrator into his latest, “the idea of a lifetime”—running a chicken farm.
With little practical knowledge, yet boundless ambition, they move to a country house and put the plan into action. Along the way, Garnet falls headlong in love with a woman on the train, and becomes consumed with winning her heart, despite formidable obstacles.
The original edition of Love Among the Chickens was published in the UK in 1906. This newer edition dates from 1921 and is described as “entirely rewritten by the author.” It is the first introduction in print of the character Ukridge, who would appear again in other short stories and novels by Wodehouse.
Description
Nikolai Gogol spent most of his literary career writing short stories, drawing inspiration from his childhood in Ukraine and his adult life in St. Petersburg. His stories are filled with larger than life yet relatable characters and perfectly described locations, and span many genres from historical epics to early horror and surrealism.
His influence on Russian literature cannot be understated: Fyodor Dostoevsky is quoted as saying “We all come out from Gogol’s ‘Overcoat,’ ” (presented here as “The Mantle”) and mentioned him by name in Crime and Punishment; Mikhail Bulgakov stated that “no-one can compare with him,” and Vladimir Nabokov wrote a full biography. Many of the stories in this collection have been adapted for stage and film, including “The Nose” as an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Collected here are all of the public domain translations into English of Gogol’s short stories, in chronological order of the original Russian publication. They were translated by Claud Field, Isabel F. Hapgood, Vizetelly and Company, and George Tolstoy.
Description
Uncle Silas is told from the account of Maud Ruthyn, an heiress living with her reclusive father, Austin Ruthyn. She learns about her uncle, Silas Ruthyn, and his past reputation marred by gambling and the apparent suicide of a man to which Silas owed a large gambling debt that occurred in a locked room in Silas’ residence.
In order to clear the Ruthyn name of the rumors of Silas’ past, Austin names Silas as Maud’s guardian through Austin’s will upon his death. Also noted in Austin’s will, Silas would inherit the fortune left to Maud should she die while under his ward. Maud befriends her cousin Millicent and quickly adjusts to life under Silas’ care, despite his often frightening demeanor. Although Silas has proclaimed that he’s a newly reformed Christian, Maud becomes increasingly suspicious of her uncle’s motives as life for her becomes increasingly unpleasant.
The story of Maud Ruthyn and her uncle Silas evolved through multiple iterations, beginning with the short story “A Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess” in 1839, before ultimately becoming the three-volume novel published in 1864. This ebook reproduces a revised, two-volume version released a year later.
Description
Robinson Crusoe is one of the most popular books ever written in the English language, published in innumerable editions and translated into almost every language of the world, not to mention the many versions created in film, television and even radio. First published in 1719, it can also claim to be one of the first novels ever written in English.
Written in the form of an autobiography, it describes the life of the eponymous narrator Robinson Crusoe. A wild youth, he breaks away from his family to go to sea. After many adventures including being captured and made into a slave, he is eventually shipwrecked on a remote island off the coast of South America. Crusoe is the only survivor of the wreck. He is thus forced to find ways to survive on the island without any other assistance. His first years are miserable and hard, but he ultimately manages to domesticate goats and raise crops, making his life tolerable. While suffering from an illness, he undergoes a profound religious conversion, and begins to ascribe his survival to a beneficent Providence.
Crusoe lives alone on the island for more than twenty years until his life changes dramatically after he discovers a human footprint in the sand, indicating the undeniable presence of other human beings. These, it turns out, are the native inhabitants of the mainland, who visit the island only occasionally. To Crusoe’s horror, he discovers that these people practice cannibalism. He rescues one of their prisoners, who becomes his servant (or “man”) Friday, named for the day of the week on which he rescued him, and together, their adventures continue.
Description
The Works of Max Beerbohm is a collection of satirical essays by Max Beerbohm. It was published in 1896 at The Bodley Head, his publisher John Lane contributing a detailed bibliography of the works of the author, then aged 24. Before their publication as a book, the essays had appeared in prominent literary periodicals such as The Yellow Book and The Savoy. Most of the essays were written while he was a student at Oxford, although he had left Merton College in 1894. By then he was already known as a caricaturist, parodist and essayist and well acquainted with the writers and artists connected with The Bodley Head, notably Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde.
The essays can perhaps be best described as both elaborate parody and vicious satire. Beerbohm’s intimate knowledge of the social circles of the time and his penchant for pointed descriptions of character are always on display, dismantling the purported greatness that surrounds him.
Description
The “Moonstone” of the title is a large but flawed diamond, looted from India at the time of the Mutiny by an unscrupulous British officer. Many years later, estranged from his family due to his licentious lifestyle, the officer bequeaths the diamond to his sister’s daughter, Rachel Verrinder, to be given to her on her 18th birthday. Due to the ill-omens surrounding the gem, this may have been an act of revenge rather than reconciliation. The diamond, it appears, was taken from a statue of the Moon God worshipped by a Hindu cult, and it has long been sought by a group of Brahmins determined to return it to their temple.
On the night of the birthday party the gem mysteriously disappears from Rachel’s room. While the first suspicions naturally fall on these Indians, they are eventually exculpated. Rachel becomes hysterical and angry when questioned about the theft and refuses to assist the police. Active efforts to assist them are taken up by Rachel’s cousin (and sweetheart) Franklin Blake. These efforts simply drive Rachel into further fury, and she becomes completely estranged from him. Suspicion thus falls on her as having some secret reason for wishing to raise money on the diamond. The novel proceeds to slowly uncover the mysteries involved.
Published in 1868, The Moonstone is often considered as one of the precursors of the modern detective novel, though this is a label which would not have been used by its author Wilkie Collins and his contemporaries. While it is true that the plot revolves around the mystery of a theft, and that it features Sergeant Cuff “in the Detective Force of Scotland Yard,” the novel is much more about character and relationships than the mere revelation of secrets. It also has a good dose of Collins’ humour, as the story is told in large part by eccentric characters such as the old house-steward Gabriel Betteredge who regards Robinson Crusoe as an oracle; and the ultra-religious Miss Clack, determined to convert everyone to her views.
Immensely popular at the time of its publication in serial form, The Moonstone is rightly considered to be one of Collins’ best works, and remains highly regarded today.
Description
Sonnets from the Portuguese is a collection of forty-four love sonnets. Despite what the title suggests, Browning in fact composed the sonnets in English. She decided to frame them as “translations” because she was concerned they may have been too personal to publish. Fortunately her husband, Robert Browning, convinced her to publish them, and they went on to become some of the most famous and critically-acclaimed love sonnets to this day.