A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, Our Mutual Friend revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. It was published in nineteen monthly numbers, in the fashion of many earlier Dickens novels, for the first time since Little Dorrit. Dickens remarked to Wilkie Collins that he was "quite dazed" at the prospect of putting out twenty monthly... Read More
Charles Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress is Charles Dickens's second novel, an... Read More
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsea Island, the second of eight children of Elizabeth Dickens and John Dickens. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in the district. Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Little Dorrit is a novel of serendipity, of fortunes won and lost... Read More
Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. He was extremely popular and widely read, both at home and abroad. Ivanhoe was the first of Scott's novels to adopt a purely English subject and was also his first attempt to combine history and romance, which late... Read More
Sir Walter Scott was born in 1771 in Edinburgh. His love of traditional Scottish oral storytelling led him to gather ballads and stories, leading to the development of a body of literature which gave previously disregarded traditional stories a platform, and Scottish culture an international stage. Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scot... Read More
Quentin Durward, the novel of adventure and romance by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1823. The novel was a popular success and solidified Scott’s reputation as a stirring writer. The novel is set in 15th-century France, where the title character saves the life of Louis XI. Quentin Durward was composed in a remarkably short space of time. After carrying out some preparatory research towards the... Read More
Sir Walter Scott was born on 15 August 1771. He was the ninth child of Walter Scott, a Writer to the Signet, and Anne Rutherford. His father was a member of a cadet branch of the Scotts Clan, and his mother descended from the Haliburton family, the descent from whom granted Walter's family the hereditary right of burial in Dryburgh Abbey. As a boy, youth, and young man, Scott was fascinated by... Read More
Jane Austen, for some, is simply the supreme English novelist, on any list. Some will say: she is the greatest. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Of... Read More
Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Persuasion was the last novel Jane Austen completed, and it didn’t appear in print until 1818 after she had passed away. It’s also shorter than most of her other novels, and some critics think that, because she wrote t... Read More
The reception history of Jane Austen follows a path from modest fame to wild popularity. During her lifetime, Austen's novels brought her little personal fame. Like many women writers, she chose to publish anonymously, but her authorship was an open secret. Jane Austen’s Love and Freindship is part of the second volume of Austen’s Juvenilia, short works she wrote from 1787 to 1793 mostly to ent... Read More
Novel-writing was a suspect occupation for women in the early 19th century because it imperilled their social reputation by bringing them publicity, viewed as unfeminine. Therefore, like many other female writers, Austen published anonymously. Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen that was published anonymously in three volumes in 1811 and that became a classic. The satirical, comic w... Read More
Walter Scott noted Austen's "resistance to the trashy sensationalism of much of modern fiction - 'the ephemeral productions which supply the regular demand of watering places and circulating libraries'". Yet her rejection of these genres is complex, as evidenced by Northanger Abbey and Emma. Northanger Abbey was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed for publication, in 1803. However... Read More
William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. O. Henry's stories frequently have surprise endings. In his day he was called the American answer to Guy de Maupassant. The Gift of the Magi is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christ... Read More
O. Henry's work is wide-ranging, and his characters can be found everywhere. The Cop and the Anthem has only one character who is given a name, the protagonist "Soapy." Furthermore, no last name is given. It is made clear that Soapy is homeless, a member of the substantial army of and women who flocked to New York City during the earliest years of the twentieth century. When it's warm, Soapy li... Read More
Few people are familiar with the name William Sydney Porter, but, just as many remember Mark Twain and not Samuel L. Clemens, Porter is well known by the pen name O. Henry. He was living the routine life of a young pharmacist who dazzled people with his artistic drawing ability, creativity that successfully translated into literature. During his most prolific years, O. Henry was compared to the... Read More
An American short story writer William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Porter used a number of pen names in the early part of his writing career. Nevertheless, the name "O. Henry" seemed to garner the most attention from editors and the public, and was used exclusively by Porter for his writing by about 1902. T... Read More
O. Henry was an American short story author named William Sydney Porter, raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Henry's rich canon of work reflected his wide-range of experiences and is distinctive for its witticism, clever wordplay, and unexpected twist endings. Set in the American Midwest during the early 1900s, A Retrieved Reformation concerns the surprising fate of Jimmy Valentine, a skilled... Read More
William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories were distinguished for their witty approach, use of words, effects of coincidence on their characters and most often for their surprise endings. His tales often dramatized the commonplace, especially the life of commoners of New York City. O. Henry was also a music enthusiast and a good... Read More
O. Henry, pseudonym of William Sydney Porter, was American author of hundreds of short stories. His works are well known throughout the world, noted for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings. O. Henry chose to write as people spoke, with colloquialisms woven into the characters' voices. He uses normal, real-life situations and the key to their impact. Some of his best... Read More
O. Henry, pseudonym of William Sydney Porter, was American author of hundreds of short stories. He was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favourite works were Lane's translation of One Thousand and One Nights and Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. In O. Henry’s short story, Man About Town, a... Read More