Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American writer and philanthropist, the author of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which contributed so much to popular feeling against slavery that it is cited among the causes of the American Civil War. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stances... Read More
Ambrose Bierce, in full Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, was an American newspaperman, wit, satirist, and author of sardonic short stories based on themes of death and horror. Bierce was born in a log cabin at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio, on June 24, 1842, to Marcus Aurelius Bierce and Laura Sherwood Bierce. He was of entirely English ancestry: all of his forebears came to North America betw... Read More
Ambrose Bierce was an American writer of sardonic short stories based on themes of death and horror. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is about a man named Peyton Farquhar. He was a well-off southern planter from Alabama. Peyton, who was “ardently devoted to the Southern cause,” was prevented from joining the army by circumstance and was eager to serve the South in any way possible. One evening... Read More
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce’s literary reputation is based primarily on his short stories about the Civil War and the supernatural, a body of work that makes up a relatively small part of his total output. Often compared to the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, these stories share an attraction to death in its more bizarre forms, featuring depictions of mental deterioration, uncanny, otherworldly manifesta... Read More
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. Bierce professed to be mainly concerned with the artistry of his work, but critics find him more intent on conveying his misanthropy and pessimism. In his lifetime Bierce was famous as a California journalist dedicated to exposing the truth as he understood it, regardless of whose reputa... Read More
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American satirist, critic, short story writer, editor and journalist. Bierce lived and wrote in England from 1872 to 1875, contributing to Fun magazine. His first book, The Fiend's Delight, a compilation of his articles, was published in London in 1873 by John Camden Hotten under the pseudonym "Dod Grile". Today, he is best known for his short story, An Occurrence... Read More
Ambrose Bierce was an American newspaperman and author of short stories. Known for his satirical wit and sardonic view of human nature, he earned the nickname "Bitter Bierce." Ambrose Bierce is perhaps most famous for his serialized mock lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary, in which, over the years, he scathed American culture and accepted wisdom by pointing out alternate, more practical definition... Read More
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer, and satirist, today best known for his Devil's Dictionary, which lampooned, among other things, religion and politics. Because of his penchant for biting social criticism and satire, Bierce's long newspaper career was often steeped in controversy. On several occasions, his columns stirred up a storm of hostile... Read More
Ambrose Bierce was an American journalist, short story writer and, editorialist. His main occupations were in the writing or editing field, although he also played the satire. He had a very distinctive style of writing which embraced an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, limited descriptions, the theme of war, impossible events, and vague references to time. Bierce wrote realistically of the terri... Read More
Ambrose Bierce was an American newspaper columnist, satirist, essayist, short-story writer, and novelist, an enigmatic figure, and some say he was simply a cold-hearted bitter person. His death is still a mystery, but in 1913 Bierce set off for Mexico and stated, "If you ever hear of my being stood up against a Mexican Stone wall and being shot to rags please know it is a pretty good way to dep... Read More
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer of world-famous children's fiction, notably Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass. He published Phantasmagoria and Other Poems in 1869, The Hunting of the Snark in 1876 and Sylvie and Bruno in 1889. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865. With its... Read More
Lewis Carroll is a pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, English logician, mathematician, photographer, and novelist, especially remembered for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. His poem The Hunting of the Snark is nonsense literature of the highest order. He died of pneumonia following influenza on 14 January 1898 at his sisters' home, "The Chestnuts"... Read More
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who brought us Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll came from a family of high church Anglicans and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Charles's father was an active and highly conservative cleric of the Church of England who later became the Arch... Read More
Richard Doddridge Blackmore, known as R. D. Blackmore, was one of the most famous English novelists of the second half of the nineteenth century. Educated at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, and at Exeter College, Oxford, Blackmore was called to the bar but withdrew because of ill health. He married in 1852 and was a schoolteacher from 1855 to 1857. Then, upon receiving a legacy, he bought a proper... Read More
Edwin Abbott Abbott was an English schoolmaster and theologian, most famous as the author of the social satire Flatland, widely noted for its use of mathematical dimensions in religious and political allegories. Flatland depicts a nightmarish dystopia in which living geometrical figures persecute irregular figures and condemn straight lines, or females, to perpetual ignorance and subservience.... Read More
In almost all of Poe's works, death is a central issue. Whether a tale of murder, a tale of horror, a Gothic horror romance, or an allegory, Poe's stories, by nature of his preferred genres, are full of death. Though many of his stories deal with either the murder of someone, the solving of a murder, or the supernatural resurrection of someone who has died, it is his allegorical look at mortali... Read More
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston. At age six, Poe went to England with the Allans and was enrolled in schools there. After he returned with the Allans to the U.S. in 1820, he studied at private schools, then attended the University of Virginia and the U.S. Military Academy, but did not complete studies at either school. The Sleeper is one of many Poe poems focusing on bea... Read More
The Man of the Crowd is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe about a nameless narrator following a man through a crowded London. The story was first published simultaneously in the December 1840 issues of Atkinson's Casket and Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. The latter was the final issue of that periodical. The narrator perceives a crowd which is outside a London coffee shop through... Read More
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is generally considered the in... Read More
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether is a dark comedy short story by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. The story begins with the narrator and his companion travelling through the countryside on horseback. As they travel, the narrator inquires about the Maison de Sante, which is a lunatic asylum. The asylum is a privately run institution under the control of Monsieur Maillard. The c... Read More